Skip to main content

Full text of "August Spies' auto-biography ; his speech in court, and general notes ..."

See other formats 


LIBRARY  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


335.8 
Sp44a 


ILUNOIS 


Ikt  UBRAKY 
OFM 

OF  ILLINOIS 


te^^.'-x       X 

L^.^>^:-~-^.-  "v  \ ' 


a* 

* 


o 


V' 


flUCJUSS  5P'E5' 


His  ^peecf?  i 


Bound  in  Paper,  25  Cents. 
Bound  in  Cloth,    65  Cents. 


PUBLISHED    BY 

NINA   VAN    ZANDT, 

CHICAGO,   ILL. 


PREXFACE,. 


To  THE  PUBLIC: 

In  the  following  pages  I  present  an  autobiographical  sketch  of  August  Spies, 

•s   including  his  address  to  the  court  and  a  collection  of  notes  and  letters  written  to 

^  me  on  various  occasions  from  his  prison.    In  the  publication  of  these  writings  I 

,  .,  have  but  one  object  in  view,  namely  :  to  afford  my  American  countrymen  and 

o  women  an  opportunity  of  becoming  acquainted  with  the  life,  character  and  aspira- 

p|  tions  of  a  man  who,  with  others,  has  occupied  their  attention  for  the  last  nine 

j>  months.     After  having  read  this  short  brochure,  they  may  judge  for  themselves 

x  who  and  what  this  man  is  who  has  been  systematically  villified  and  prejudiced  by 

the  capitalistic  press,  and  whose  conviction  (as  well  as  that  of  those  who,  although 

he  had  no  acquaintance  previous  to  the  trial  with  the  most  of  them,  nor  had  they 

with  each  other,  were  called  his  "  co-conspirators,")  was  brought  about  by  one  of 

the  most  heinous  conspiracies  of  social  vultures  known  to  man  and  history I 

did  not  know  any  of  the  accused  when  during  the  comedy,  called  trial,  I  entered 
the  court-room.  Having  received  what  information  I  had  concerning  the  prison- 
ers from  the  newspapers,  I  was  expecting  to  see  a  rare  collection  of  stupid, 
vicious,  and  criminal-looking  men.  I  was  greatly  surprised  to  find  that  several  of 
them,  so  far  from  corresponding  with  this  description,  had  intelligent,  kindly  and 

good  faces I  became  interested.    I  soon  found  that  the  officers  of  the  court 

and  the  entire  police  and  detective  force  were  bent  upon  the  conviction  of  these 
men — not  because  of  any  crime  of  theirs,  but  because  of  their  connection  with  the 
labor  movement. 

Animated  by  a  feeling  of  horror,  produced  by  what  I  saw  and  heard,  and  no 
less  by  a  feeling  of  justice,  I  determined  to  range  myself  on  the  side  of  the  perse- 
cuted. Desirous  of  proffering  my  sympathies  and  of  discovering  how  I  could 
serve  those  rendered  helpless,  I  visited,  in  company  with  my  mother,  the  close, 
dark  prison  where  they  were  spending  the  hot  summer  months.  At  this  time  I 
made  the  acquaintance  of  August  Spies.  This  acquaintance  has  been  kept  up 
during  the  intervening  months. 

Every  fair-minded  person  will  agree  with  me  that  both  sides  of  a  question 
should  be  heard  before  the  public  decides  upon  its  verdict.  Only  one  side  of  this 
question  has  been  heard,  as  the  newspapers  have  refused  to  allow  any  article 
explanatory  of  any  circumstance  to  appear  in  their  columns.  In  presenting  this 
sketch  to  my  compatriots,  I  place  my  confidence  in  the  justice  with  which  they 
are  noted  for  pronouncing  upon  public  questions  and  characters. 

In  conclusion  I  will  say,  that  it  was  at  the  suggestion  and  earnest  request  of 
several  other  friends  and  myself,  that  the  author  has  enlarged  upon  his  auto- 
biography as  it  previously  appeared,  and  has  permitted  its  publication. 

CHICAGO,  1887.  NINA  VAN  ZANDT. 


700559 


P.  8.  Since  the  publication  of  this  little  book  was  begun,  and  before  its  com- 
pletion was  reached,  an  incident  occurred  which,  because  of  the  sensational 
character  given  it  by  a  degenerated  public  press,  needs  a  few  words  of  explana- 
tion. My  sympathy  with  the  persecuted  and  lawlessly  adjudicated  prisoners 
soon  changed  into  a  feeling  of  amity  for  Mr.  Spies  when  I  became  personally 
acquainted  with  him.  And  from  this  feeling  of  friendship  gradually  developed  a 

strong  affection As  a  mere  friend,  many  obstacles  were  put  in  my  way  when 

visiting  the  jail.  To  enjoy  the  privileges  of  a  relative,  to  which  our  mutual  affec- 
tion entitled  me,  we  became  affianced.  But  I  was  informed  that  only  wives  were 
allowed  the  privilege  of  seeing  their  husbands  outside  of  the  regular  visiting  days; 
and  it  was  also  intimated  that  under  the  new  jail  regulations  I  would  not  be  per- 
mitted to  visit  the  prisoners  any  more  at  all.  It  was  clear  to  me  that  my  efforts 
in  behalf  of  the  prisoners,  in  behalf  of  justice,  were  disagreeable  to  a  certain  class 
interested  in  their  extermination — a  feeling  only  intensified  by  my  social  standing 
and  connections.  It  was  clear  to  me  that  they  sought  to  exclude  me  from  all  com- 
munication with  the  prisoners  and  my  affianced.  Upon  this  discovery,  we  de- 
cided to  become  husband  and  wife  by  law. 

As  my  parents  were  favorable  to  our  union,  it  was  an  affair  that  concerned  no 
more  nor  less  than  two  (2)  persons.  But  a  mob  of  newspaper  men,  respectable 
roue's  many  of  them,  howled  and  raved  when  our  proposed  marriage  became 
known.  Had  I  committed  every  crime  denominated  in  our  criminal  code,  these 
"chivalrous,  gallant  American  gentlemen"  could  not  have  villified  and  denounced 
me  more  than  they  did.  Had  I  been  "some  obscure,  foreign  girl"  not  a  word 
would  have  been  said  in  condemnation  of  thu  marriage.  But  an  American  girl 
from  "respectable  ancestry  and  standing"  following  the  voice  of  her  heart — which 
course  alone,  I  hold  to  be  moral — instead  of  the  sound  of  dollars!  "That's  un- 
precedented, scandalous — the  girl  must  be  silly  !  must  have  read  trash  novels! " 

Had  I  married  an  old,  invalid  debauche,  with  great  riches,  those  "moral" 
gentlemen  who  assail  me  now  would  have  lauded  me  to  tho  skies,  and  many  of 
my  Christian  sisters  and  brethren  would  have  said  to  their  sons  and  daughters  : 
"Very  commendable!  A  very  sensible  girl !"  and  those  who  knew  me  personally — 
"I  have  always  thought  her  so  sweet!  " 

I  prefer  the  censure  of  these  "moral"  people— who,  it  seems,  cannot  com- 
prehend a  love  made  doubly  strong  by  a  similarity  of  mental  tastes  and  pursuits, 
as  ours  is — to  their  approval.  I  am  equally  proud  of  the  friends  that  I  have  made 
— persons  who  can  understand  a  pure  and  unselfish  love.  NINA  VAN  ZANDT. 

CHICAGO,  Jan.  27,  1887. 


• 

ui  «ulW» 


" Barbarians,  savages,  illiterate,  ignorant  Anarchists 

from  Central  Europe,  men  who  cannot  comprehend  the  spirit  of  our 
free  American  institutions," — of  these  I  am  one.  My  name  is  August 
Vincent  Theodore  Spies,  (pronounced  Specs).  I  was  born  within  the 
ruins  of  the  old  robbers  castle  Landeck,  upon  a  high  mountain's  peak 
(Landeckerberg), Central  Germany,Dec.  10., '55.  My  father  was  a  forester 
(a  government  administrator  of  a  forest  district) ;  the  forest  house  was 
a  government  building,  and  served — only  in  a  different  form — the  same 
purposes  the  old  castle  had  served  several  centuries  before.  The  noble 
Knight-hood  of  highway  robbery,  the  traces  of  which  were  still  dis- 
cernable  in  the  remnants  of  the  old  castle,  had  passed  away  to  make 
room  for  more  genteel  and  less  dangerous  forms  of  plunder  and  robbery, 
such  as  are  carried  on  in  the  modern  dwelling  under  the  present  govern- 
ment. But  while  the  people  from  old  custom  designate  this  and  similar 
ruins  in  the  vicinity  as  "old  Bobber  Castles,"  they  speak  with  great 
deference  of  the  present  government  buildings,  in  which  they  them- 
selves are  daily  and  hourly  fleeced ;  they  would  even,  I  believe,  fight 
for  the  maintenance  of  these  lawful  institutions. 

How  greatly  these  "Barbarians"  differ  from  the  intelligent  Ameri. 
can  people  !  Tell  the  Americans  to  fight  for  the  maintenance  of  our 
Commercial  robbing  posts  and  fleecing  institutions — tell  them  to  fignt 
;or  the  protection  of  the  lawful  enterprises  of  our  Board  of  Trade  men, 
Merchant  princes,  Bailroad  kings,  and  Factory  lords — would  they  do 
it?  Deplorable  as  the  fact  must  seem — they  would!  even  more 
readily,  I  fear,  than  those  "barbarians  from  Central  Europe".  The 
American  people  in  their  vast  majority  are  ignorant  of  the  great  truth 
that  is  embodied  in  these  words  of  a  celebrated  philosopher  and  poet : 

"What  from  your  fathers  came  to  you  as  an  inheritance — 
You  must  acquire  it,  if  you  would  possess  it  !"- 

Viewed  from  a  historic  standpoint  my  birthplace  is  quite  an  in- 
teresting spot.  And  this  is  the  only  excuse  I  can  offer  for  the  selection 
of  the  place  for  said  purpose.  I  admit  I  ought  not  have  made  the 
mistake,  ought  not  have  been  born  &  foreigner.  Probably,  I  might  have 


2  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

avoided  the  fatal  mistake,  had  I  prior  to  my  entry  upon  the  stage  of 
life  possessed  the  requisite  power  of  divination.  I  might  then  have 
known  that  I  was  about  to  commit  a  monstrous  crime — a  crime,  punish- 
able by  death  30  years  hence  in  Chicago.  I  should  then  have  known 
that  the  Christian  God  in  his  sublime  wisdom  had  under  a  recent 
enactment  arranged  matters  so,  that  all  good  people  were  now  born  in 

America  under  the  protective  tariff  of  the  "United  Monopolies" 

But  unaware  and  unconscious  of  the  dangerous  enterprise  I  was  about 
to  enter  upon,  "I  popped  up  serenely"  and  unsuspectingly,  as  it  were. 
I  do  not  offer  this  as  a  mitigating  circumstance,  and  find  no  fault  with 
such  wise  and  intelligent  men  as  Mr.  Grinnell  and  His  jury,  for  hang- 
ing miscreants  who  have  shown  so  little  judgment  in  the  selection  of 
their  birthplace.*  Society  must  protect  itself  against  offenses  of 
this  kind. 

But  speaking  of  castle  Landeck.  Follow  me  there,  reader,  on  a 
bright  and  clear  day.  We  make  our  way  up  the  old  tower.  Take  care, 
or  you  will  stumble  over  the  debris.  That  ?  Oh,  that  is  a  piece  of  an 
old  torture  rack ;  we  found  it  in  one  of  the  subterreanean  walks,  to- 
gether with  several  pieces  of  old  ugly  weapons,  once  used  to  maintain 
order  among  the  victims but  why  do  you  shudder  ?  The  police- 
man's outfit  of  to-day  is  not  quite  so  blunt  and  barbaric,  it  is  true,  but 

it  is  as  effective  and  serves  the  same  purpose So,  now,  take  my 

hand,  I'll  help  you  on  top  of  the  ruin.  Look  out  for  the  bats.  These 
winged  lovers  of  darkness  have  great  resemblance  with  kings,  priests 
and  masters  in  general ;  they  dwell  in  the  ruins  of  the  "good  old  times," 
and  become  quite  noisy  when  you  disturb  them  or  expose  them  to  the 
light ;  adders,  too,  made  this  place  their  favorable  habitation  in  former 
years  and  rendered  it  very  dangerous  for  any  one  to  place  his  sacrile- 
gious foot  upon  this  feudal  monument ;  we  killed  them.  They  were 
the  companions  of  the  bats  and  owls ;  their  fate  has  given  the  latter 
much  uneasiness,  and  fears  were  entertained  that  something  terrible 
would  happen— that  the  ghosts  of  the  old  'noble  knights'  and  'noble 
dames'  would  come  back  and  avenge  the  rudeless  annihilation  of  the 
venerable  reptiles,  but  nothing  of  the  kind  has  transpired.  I  need 
hardly  add  that  the  work  of  renovation  was  greatly  impeded  by  these 
venomous  creatures ;  since  their  extermination  we  have  made  remarkable 

progress  You  smile  !    Oh,  no,  I  am  not  speaking  of  those  other 

reptiles  you  think  of.  No,  no !  But  here,  we  have  reached  the  top.  Great 
view,  is  it  not !  Over  there,  about  thirty  minutes  walk  from  here 
(west)  you  see  another  ruin  like  this ;  that  is  castle  Dreieck,  and  over 
there,  an  equal  distance,  (southwest)  you  see  another  one,  Wildeck. 

*  Mr.  Grinnell's  principal  argument  upon  which  he  demanded  a  conviction  for 
murder-,  was  that  the  accused  were  "foreigners." 


AUTOBIOGBAPHICAL  SKETCH.  3 

And  now  look  down  in  the  fertile  valleys,  the  beautiful  meadows  and 
fields  and  flourishing  villages  !  Of  the  latter  you  can  count  a  dozen, 
all  located  around  this  mount ;  and  do  you  know  that  all  these  villages, 
and  some  others  which  have  been  laid  waste  during  the  thirty  years' 
war,  were  tributary  to  the  robbers  who  ruled  over  them  in  these  three 
castles  ?  Yes,  the  people  in  these  villages  toiled  all  their  lives  from 
early  dawn  till  late  at  night  to  fill  the  vaults  of  those  noble  knights, 
who  in  return  had  the  kindness  to  maintain  'peace  and  order'  for  them. 
Par  exemple :  If  one  of  these  toiling  peasants  expressed  his  dissatisfac- 
tion of  the  existing  order  of  things,  if  he  complained  of  the  heavy  and 
unbearable  tasks  placed  upon  him,  'law  and  order'  demanded  that  he 
be  placed  upon  one  of  those  racks  you  have  seen  a  relic  of,  to  ba  tort- 
ured into  obedience  and  submission.  'Society  had  to  protect  itself 
against  this  class  of  criminals' !  The  noble  knights  had  their  Grin- 
nells,  Bonfields  and  Pinkertons  as  well  as  their  descendants  have 
them  to-day ;  and  while  they  were  less  civilized  than  their  descendants 
of  our  tim ',  they  got  along  wonderfully  well.  To  accomplish  their 
beneficent  objects,  they  did  not  even  require  the  assistance  of  a  Chicago 
"gentlemen  jury" 

Many  of  the  peasants  were  put  to  an  ignominious  death.  Some 
of  them  would  persist  in  their  folly  that  it  could  not  be  the  object  of 
society  nor  the  intention  of  Providence  to  have  a  thousand  good  people 
kill  themselves  in  a  laborious  life  for  the  glory,  enrichment  and 
grandeur  of  a  few  ungrateful,  vicious  wretches.  Such  dangerous 
teachings  were  a  menace  to  society,  and  their  promulgators  were  un- 
ceremoniously stamped  out. 

Not  more  than  200  feet  from  where  we  stand  there  is  a  perpendic- 
ular hole  (chasm)  of  volcanic  origin ;  it  is  about  8  feet  in  length  and 
3  feet  in  breadth ;  its  depth  has  never  been  ascertained.  The  saying 
goes  that  scores  of  girls  were  cast  into  this  terrible  abyss  by  the  vali- 
ant Knights  during  their  reign  of  peace  and  good  order !  It  is  said 
that  these  benevolent  "respectables"  of  ancient  times  kidnapped  the 
pretty  girls  of  the  villages,  carried  them  like  birds  of  prey  to  their  lofty 
abodes,  and  then  when  they  got  tired  of  them,  or  found  "something 
better,"  disposed  of  them  in  this  way.  .  .  . 

Oh,  I  see,  you  shake  your  head  incredulously  !  Have  you  never 
seen  the  dumping  grounds  of  the  modern  Knighthood  in  our  large 
cities — a  similar  abyss  ?  No  ?  It  is  more  frightful  than  the  one  I 
have  told  you  about ;  its  name  is  prostitution 

You  don't  believe  the  people  would  have  borne  all  these  outrag- 
es—  ?  My  friend,  your  rebellious  spirit  carries  you  away.  The  "ord- 
erly and  good  people"  suffered  these  atrocities  just  as  silently  as  our 


4  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

"law  and  order  abiding  workingmen"  bear  them  to-day.  I  told  you 
what  happened  to  those  who  showed  resistance  ! 

My  words  make  you  sad,  turn  you  pessimistic  ?  Let  me  show 
you  something  else.  Look  through  between  these  two  mounts ;  can 
you  see  a  tower  in  the  dim  distance — yes  ?  At  the  side  of  this  tower 
are  yet  to  be  seen  the  ruins  of  the  first  chapel  built  in  the  realms  of 
the  old  heathen,  but  free  and  liberty-loving  Germans.  It  was  found- 
ed by  one  of  the  apostles  of  St.  Boniface,  in  the  eighth  century ;  his 
name  was  Lullus,  With  this  chapel  and  others  that  soon  followed 
the  poison  of  Oriental  servilism,  the  gospel  of  man's  degradation,  res- 
ignation and  asceticism  was  first  introduced.  The  old  Cherusker  and 
Katten,  who  had  in  mortal  combat  thrust  the  Eoman  eagle  to  the 
ground,  were  less  successful  in  resisting  the  mindinfecting  poison  of 
pestilential  Eome ;  it  came  flowing  in  incessantly  through  the  chan- 
els  of  the  Christian  church.  It  is  true,  the  healthy  and  robust  Ger- 
mans were  not  an  easy  prey  to  the  pessimistic  belief  of  a  debauched 
and  dying  race  (Rome) — they  never  have  been  good  Christians — but 
they  became  sufficiently  infected  to  lose  their  consciousness  and  pride 
of  manhood  for  a  while,  to  fall  into  the  despairing  vagaries  of  the 
Orient,  and  as  a  natural  consequence  into  serfdom.  If  life  had  no 

value,  why  then  aspire  to  liberty ?    Friend,  the  ruin  of 

yonder  chapel  is  the  monument  of  an  epoch  that  gave  birth  to  such 
robberburgs  as  the  one  we  stand  upon.  The  people  would  have  razed 
these  roosts  to  the  ground  long  before  they  did,  if  the  priest  had  not 
stood  between  them  and  "Law  and  Order."  The  priest  is  an  essential 
indivisible  part  of  the  despot  and  oppressor ;  he  is  the  conciliatory 
link  between  them  and  their  victims 

These  two  ruins,  once  sacred  as  the  pedestals  of  social  order,  are 
prophetic  monuments.  Man  will  so  stand  upon  the  ruins  of  the  pres- 
ent order  and  will  say  as  you  say  now — "was  it  possible.  .  .  . !" 

But  now  turn  around — along  this  mountain  chain,  northeast, 
there,  where  the  earth  dips  mistily  into  the  horizon,  the  periphery  of 
our  view — do  you  see  yonder  gray  spot,  it  looks  like  a  small  cloud  ? 
Yes  ?  That's  the  Wartburg,  you  have  heard  of  the  Wartburg.  It  was 
here,  where  Dr.  Martinus  Luther  lived  and  worked,  an  instrument  of 
the  revolutionary  forces ;  the  revolutionary  forces,  my  friend,  that 
gradually  had  developed  in  these  villages. 

It  is  our  custom  to  attribute  great  movements  to  single  individu- 
als, as  being  their  merit.  This  is  always  wrong,  and  it  was  so  with 
Luther.  The  Germanic  race  could  not  digest  the  Byzantinian  philo- 
sophy, as  embodied  in  the  Judaic  and  Christian  teachings.  The  idea 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  5 

that  this  world  was  calculated  to  be  simply  a  purgatory  and  our  life  a 
martyrdom  was  repulsive  to  the  common  sense  of  the  merry  Germans, 
and  what  made  it  still  more  repulsive  to  them,  was :  that  servitude 
and  despotism  were  growing  from  the  seed  of  the  new  religion  and  de- 
veloping, where  once  had  been  the  habitation  of  liberty ;  developing 
at  such  a  rate,  that  patience  ceased  to  be  a  virtue.  The  rebellious 
spirit  of  the  people,  their  animosity  to  the  doctrine  of  self-abnegation, 
imposed  upon  them  by  the  church,  had  been  successfully  calmed  and 
suppressed  by  the  priests  for  several  centuries.  But  as  the  iniquities 
of  the  "nobility"  and  the  domestic  burdens  of  the  people  grew  unbear- 
able ;  this  spirit  burst  out  in  flames,  and  in  Luther  found  a  crystaliza- 
tion  point.  From  the  Wartburg  then  the  mighty  wave  of  the  reforma- 
tion rolled  forth.  It  was  the  Occident  struggling  in  self-preservation 
against  the  Orient.  The  love  of  liberty  which  had  been  lying  spell- 
bound in  the  people's  heart  for  generations,  now  flowed  out  in  lucid 

streams;  the  magic  spell  was  broken But  the  "nobility," 

while  seeking  liberation  from  the  despotism  of  the  Roman  Church, 
they  liked  the  privileges  the  latter  had  given  them :  the  patent  to  rob 
the  peasants  of  their  labor,  too  well — they  scorned;the  idea  of  the  com- 
mon people  aspiring  to  economic  freedom.  Was  not  "spiritual  liber- 
ty," a  change  of  certain  religious  notions,  enough  for  any  common 
man  ?  Luther  soon  became  the  tool  of  these  cheating  knaves,  and 
wielded  his  pen  in  condemnation  of  the  objects  contended  for  by  the 
people.  He  denounced  the  true  and  brave  leaders  of  the  people,  the 
fearless  Thomas  Muenzer  and  his  associates,  worse  than  the  Pope 
had  denounced  him  shortly  before.  And  when  the  liberty-thirsty  peo- 
ple finally  took  up  their  scythes  and  axes  and  forks,  and  drove  the 
"noble  Knights"  from  their  robbers'  roosts,  it  was  Luther  who  brought 

about  a  conspiracy  of  the  latter  against  the  people It  is 

characteristic  that  now  all  religious  differences  were  set  aside  and  all 
petty  tyrants  combined  to  subdue  the  people.  Papist  or  Lutheran, 
all  were  instantly  united  in  the  crusade  against  labor.  (America  at 
this  time  presents  an  analogous  spectacle  :  Republicans  and  Demo- 
crats "embrace  each  other  as  Nectar  and  Ambrosia,"  wherever  labor 
rises  for  emancipation.) 

Of  course,  the  people  were  conspirators  and  incendiaries,  Hear 
what  Thomas  Muenzer  said :  "Look  you,  the  sediment  of  the  soup  of 
usury,  theft  and  robbery  are  the  Great,  the  masters ;  they  take  all 
creatures  as  their  property — the  fish  in  the  water,  the  birds  in  the  air, 
and  the  vegetation  of  the  earth.  And  then  they  preach  God's  com- 
mandment to  the  poor :  "Thou  shalt  not  steal."  But  this  is  not  for 
themselves.  They  bone  and  scrape  the  poor  farmer  and  mechanic 


6  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

until  these  have  nothing  left ;  then,  when  the  latter  put  their  hands 
on  the  sacred  things,  they  are  hanged.  And  Doctor  Liar  says,  Amen ! 
The  masters  do  it  themselves,  that  the  poor  man  hates  them.  The 
cause  of  the  rebellion  they  wont  abolish,  how  then  can  things  change 
to  the  better.  As  I  say  this,  I  am  an  incendiary— let  it  be  so!" 

No,  these  words  were  not  spoken  in  Judge  Gary's  court !  You 
make  a  mistake,  reader,  the  language  is  not  modern,  it's  400  years 

old And  the  man  who  used  it  was  in  the  right.  He  interpreted 

the  Gospel,  saying  that  it  did  not  merely  promise  blessings  in  heaven, 
but  that  it  also  commanded  the  equality  and  brotherhood  among  men 
on  earth.  The  champions  of  law  and  order  and  Christendom  chopped 
his  head  off. 

The  rebels  were  victorious  at  first,  but  against  the  united  vassals 
of  their  oppressors  they  could  not  stand.  At  the  foot  of  this  mount 
they  were  defeated,  down  there,  where  you  see  that  big  rock,  sur- 
rounded by  magnificent  oaks,  the  battle  for  freedom  was  fought  and, 

alas,  lost No,  it  was  not  lost,  it  was  merely  interceded  by  a 

temporary  victory  of  the  enemy. 

The  spirit  of  the  Eeformation  was  the  "eternal  spirit  of  the  chain- 
less  mind,"  and  nothing  could  stay  its  progoess.  Gibbets,  stakes, 
tortures  and  dungeons  were  of  no  avail.  On  the  contrary,  the  blood 
of  the  martyrs  only  intensified  the  flame  of  liberty,  until  it  sprang 
from  land  to  land,  kindling  everywhere  the  discontent  of  the  oppressed 
in  its  irresistible  triumphant  course. 

These  ruins  still  bear  evidence  of  its  tremendous  force  !  The  most 
momentous  thing  accomplished  by  this  rebellious  and  lawless  spirit, 
however,  was  the  opening  of  the  new  world.  The  reformation  gave 
birth  to  the  young  giant,  America ;  it  gave  England  a  Cromwell  and 
France  a  Eichelieu.  It's  fermenting  forces  drove  the  Hugenots  from 
France  and  the  Puritans  from  England.  But  for  the  reformation  and 
the  persecution  of  its  adherents,  these  early  settlers  of  the  western 
hemisphere  would  have  remained  in  France  and  England  as  good  and 
law-abiding  citizens.  As  dangerous  elements,  society  had  to  protect 
itself  against  them,  and  they  fled  over  the  Atlantic  rather  than  to  suff- 
er martyrdom  at  home  for  their  "advanced  ideas." 

The  reformation,  my  friends,  which  started  right  here,  in  the 
country  where  four  centuries  later  the  "Barbarian  Anarchists"  come 
from,  "who  cannot  comprehend  the  spirit  of  the  American  institutions" 

etc.,   broke  down  the  feudal  barries,  which  impeded  human 

progress.  It  was  asserted  in  a  thirty  year's  war,  a  war  which  laid 
the  continent  desolate,  that  the  exercise  of  free  thought  and  opinion 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  7 

and  that  scientific  investigation  should  no  longer  be  suppressed 
because  they  conflicted  with  religious  superstition  and  dogma 
generally  believed  in  and  sanctified  by  custom.  The  "good  and 
law-abiding"  people  were  fanatically  opposed  to  those  in  favor  of  the 
imperative  change,  and  oceans  of  blood  had  to  be  shed  in  consequence. 
The  ruins  you  see  here  wherever  you  turn  your  eyes  bear  witness  of 
the  terrible  war  that  has  not  yet  ended — the  war  for  human  emancipat- 
ion and  freedom :  economic,  political  and  religious.  Every  one  of 
these  ruins  is  a  milestone  on  the  path  of  social  progress.  At  our 
feet  lies  the  historic  ckaussee,  upon  which  Napoleon's  victorious 
armies,  much  against  the  intention  of  the  grand  empereur,  carried 
the  seed  of  "Liberty,  Equality,  Fraternity"  to  the  far  east,  and  there 
opened  a  new  perspective  to  the  purblind  eyes  of  the  oppressed 
and  down-trodden  millions  of  our  race.  Aye,  even  now  that  seed  is 
bringing  forth  good  fruit.  Eussian  dungeons,  gibbets  and  Siberia 
bear  witness. 

Now  friends,  before  we  retire  from  this  retrospective  view,  look 
once  more  in  the  mirror  of  the  past  1,000  years,  observe  closely 
the  traces  that  lead  from  yonder  chapel  to  this  castle,  from  here  to  the 
Wartburg,  from  the  Wartburg  to  the  battlefield  below  here  and  to  these 
ruins,  and  then  follow  them  to  England,  France  and  America,  follow 
them  up  to  this  day  and  tell  me,  if  you  do  not  see  the  contours  of  the 
future  reflected lou  do  ! 

I  have  dwelled  at  great  length  in  describing  my  (barbarian) 
birth  place,  but  in  so  doing  I  have  traversed  in  a  general  way  over 
the  history  of  1,000  years.  The  present  status  of  society  is  but  the 
result  of  the  struggle  of  human  kind  during  this  and  preceding 
periods — yes,  struggle  !  "You  cannot  reform  the  world  by  the  sprinkling 
of  rose  oil,"  said  Mirabeau,  and  history  proves  that  he  was  right.  In 
no  age  did  the  rulers  and  despoilers  of  our  race  relinquish  their  hold 
upon  the  throat  of  their  victims,  until  forced  to — by  logic  and  argu- 
ment ?  No Blood,  the  precious  sap,  was  ever  the  price  of  liberty. 

My  years  of  childhood  were  pleasent.  I  played  and  studied — How 
different  from  the  childhood  of  the  offsprings  of  the  average  working- 
man  in  this  "glorious,  civilized  and — according  to  Grinnell-enlighten- 
ed  country."  The  children  of  the  proletaire  have  no  youth  ;  the  spring 
of  life  has  no  sunshine,  no  blossoms,  no  flowers  for  them !  If  there  is 
a  discernible  object  in  their  existence  it  is  that  of  serving  to  make  life 
happy  and  pleasant  for  those  who  tread  upon  them. 

In  my  native  land  children  must  attend  school  daily  from  the  age 
of  6  to  that  of  14 ;  every  child  in  that  "Barbarian  country"  is  thus  com- 


8  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

pelled  to  attend  school  for  8  years,  and  cannot  therefore  be  "utilized 
and  made  to  pay"  by  either  their  parents  or  factory  lords. 

In  this  enlightened  country  the  children  of  the  wage-workers  do 
not  attend  school  in  the  average  more  then  two  years ;  they  learn  just 
enough  to  serve  as  a  piece  of  organic  machinery,  and  as  such  they 
are  "let  out"  to  benevolent  and  Christian  employers  in  their  tenderest 
years.  Their  vitality,  which  is  needed  to  their  own  bodily  and  in'  el- 
lectual  development,  is  in  such  wise  tapped  from  the  innocents  and 
turned  into  gold  for  our  "law  and  order"  loving,  respectable  citizens. 
They  die  from  consumption  before  they  attain  their  maturity,  or  resort 
to  whisky,  thinking  thereby  to  restor  their  lost  vigor.  If  they  escape 
early  destruction,  their  life  is  generally  terminated  in  one  of  those 
charitable  or  reformatory  institutes  known  as  the  insane  asylum,  the 
penitentiary,  or  poorhouse. 

But  woe  to  the  wretch  who  condemns  this  order  of  things  !  He  is 
an  "enemy  of  civilization,"  and  "society  must  protect  itself  against 
such  criminals." There  comes  the  star-spangled  Mephisto,  Bon- 
field,  with  his  noble  guards  of  "Liberty;"  there  comes  the  savior  of  the 
state,  Grinnell,  with  the  visage  of  a  Sicilian  brigand,  there  comes  the 
hireling  juror,  and  there  comes  the  vast  horde  of  social  vultures : 
Unisono  is  the  anathema !  Unisono  is  the  cry — "To  the  gallows  !" 

"Society"  is  saved,  and  "Liberty  and  order" — of  the  policeman's 
club— triumph  !  Selah ! 

I  do  not  intend  to  say  that  the  condition  of  the  wage-workers  in 
Germany  is  better  than  in  this  country,  but  I  will  say  that  I  never 
saw  there  such  real  suffering  from  want  as  I  have  seen  in  this  country. 
And  there  is  more  protection  for  women  and  children  in  Germany 
than  here. 

I  was  educated  for  a  career  in  the  government  service  (forest 
branch).  As  a  child  I  had  private  tutors,  and  later  visited  the  Poly- 
technicum  in  Cassel.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  my  father  died  suddenly, 
leaving  a  large  family  in  moderate  circumstances.  As  I  was  the  eld- 
est one  I  did  not  feel  justified  in  continuing  my  studies — they  were 
expensive — and  concluded  to  go  to  America,  where  I  had  and  have 
now  a  number  of  well-to-do  relatives.  I  arrived  in  New  York  in  1872, 
and  upon  the  advice  of  my  frienks  learned  the  furniture  business. 
The  following  year  I  came  to  Chicago,  where  I  have  resided  ever  since ; 
though  I  may  add  that  I  have  been  away  from  the  city  occasionally 
for  some  time.  Once,  with  the  intention  of  settling  in  the  country,  I 
worked  on  a  farm  for  a  year.  But  seeing  that  the  small  farmers  and 
renters  were  in  a  worse  plight  even  than  the  city  wageworkers,  and 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  9 

that  they  were  equally  dependent,  I  returned  to  the  city.  I  have  also 
traveled  over  the  Southern  States  to  get  acquainted  with  the  country 
and  people,  and  at  another  time  I  joined  an  exploring  expedition 
through  Upper  Canada,  which  failed. 

When  I  arrived  in  this  country  I  knew  nothing  of  Socialism,  ex- 
cept what  I  had  seen  in  the  newspapers,  the  "public  teachers"  (?),and 
from  what  I'd  read  I  concluded  that  the  Socialists  were  a  lot  of  ignor- 
ant and  lazy  vagabonds  "who  wanted  to  divide  up  everything."  Hav- 
ing come  but  very  little  in  contact  with  people  who  earned  their  living 
by  honest  labor  in  the  old  country,  I  was  amazed  and  was  shocked 
when  I  became  acquainted  with  the  condition  of  the  wage-workers  in 
the  new  world. 

The  factory  with  its  ignominious  regulations :  the  surveillance, 
the  spy  system,  then  the  servility  and  lack  of  manhook  among  the 
workers  and  the  arrogant  arbitrary  behavior  of  the  boss  and  his 
mamelukes — all  this  made  an  impression  upon  me  that  I  have  never 
been  able  to  divest  myself  of.  At  first  I  could  not  understand  why 
the  workers,  among  them  many  old  men  with  bent  backs,  silently  and 
without  a  sign  of  protest  bore  every  insult  the  caprice  of  the  foreman 
or  boss  would  heap  upon  them.  I  was  not  then  aware  of  the  fact  that 
the  opportunity  to  work  was  a  privilege,  a  favor,  and  that  it  was  in 
the  power  of  those  who  were  in  the  possession  of  the  factories  and  in- 
struments of  labor  to  deny  or  grant  this  privilege.  I  did  not  then  un- 
derstand how  difficult  it  was  to  find  a  purchaser  for  one's  labor.  I  did 
not  know  then  that  there  were  thousands  and  thousands  of  idle  hu- 
man bodies  in  the  market,  ready  to  hire  out  upon  most  any  condi- 
tions, actually  begging  for  employment.  I  became  concious  of  this 
very  soon,  however,  and  I  knew  then  why  these  people  were  so  servile, 
why  they  suffered  the  humiliating  dictates  and  capricious  whims  of 
their  employers.  Personally  I  had  no  great  difficulty  in  "getting 
along."  I  had  so  many  advantages  over  my  co-workers.  I  would 
most  likely  have  succeeded  in  becoming  a  respectable  business  mnn 
myself,  if  I  had  been  possessed  of  that  unscrupulous  egotism  which 
characterizes  the  successful  business  man,  and  if  my  aspirations  had 
been  that  of  the  avaricious  hamster  (the  latter  belongs  to  the  family 
of  rats,  and  his  "pursuit  in  life"  is  to  steal  and  accumulate ;  in  some 
of  their  depositories  the  contents  of  whole  graneries  have  often  been 
found ;  their  greatest  delight  seems  to  be  possession,  for  they  steal  a 
great  deal  more  than  they  can  consume ;  in  fact  they  steal,  like  most 
of  our  respectable  citizens,  regardless  of  their  capacity  of  consump- 
tion.) 


10  AUTOBIOGKA.PHICAL  SKETCH. 

My  philosophy  has  always  been  that  the  object  of  life  can  con- 
sist in  the  enjoyment  of  life  only,  and  that  the  rational  application  of 
this  principle  is  true  morality. 

I  held  that  asceticism,  as  taught  by  the  Church,  was  a  crime 
against  nature. 

Now  observing  that  the  vast  mass  of  the  people  were  wasting  their 
lives  in  drudgery,  accompanied  with  want  and  misery,  it  was  but  nat- 
ural for  me  to  inquire  into  the  causes.  (I  had  up  to  that  time  never 
read  a  book,  or  even  an  impartial  essay  on  Modern  Socialism.)  Was 
this  self-abnegation,  this  self-crucifixion  of  the  people  voluntary,  or 
was  it  forced  upon  them,  and  if  so,  by  whom  ? 

About  this  time,  while  looking  over  my  books  in  search  of  some- 
thing, my  attention  was  attracted  by  this  pissage  from  Aristotle : 
"When,  at  some  future  age,  every  tool  upon  command,  or  by  predest- 
ination, will  perform  its  work  as  the  art  works  of  Daedalus  did,  who 
moved  by  themselves,  or  like  the  feet  of  Hephaestos,  who  went  to  their 
sacred  work  spontaneously,  when  thus  the  weaver  shuttles  will  weave 
by  themselves,  then  we  will  no  longer  require  masters  and  slaves." 

Had  this  time,  long  ago  anticipated  by  the  great  thinker,  not 
come?  Yes,  it  had.  There  were  the  machines.  ...But  master  and 
slave  still  existed.  The  question  arose  in  my  mind,  is  their  existence 
still  necessary? 

Antiporas,  a  Greek  poet,  who  lived  at  the  time  of  Cicero,  had  in 
like  manner  greeted  the  inventions  of  the  water-mill  (water  power)  as 
the  emancipator  of  male  and  female  slaves.  "Oh,  these  heathens  !" 
writes  Karl  Marx,  after  quoting  the  above ;  "they  knew  nothing  of 
Political  Economy  and  Christendom !  They  failed  to  conceive  how 
nicely  the  machines  could  be  employed  to  lengthen  the  hours  of  toil 
and  to  intensify  the  burdens  of  the  slaves.  They  (the  heathens)  ex- 
cused the  slavery  of  one  on  the  ground  that  it  would  afford  the  oppor- 
tunity of  human  development  to  another.  But  to  preach  the  slavery 
of  the  masses  in  order  that  a  few  rude  and  arrogant  parvenus  might 
become  "eminent  spinners,"  "extensive  sausage-makers"  and  "influ- 
en  ial  shoe  black  dealers" — to  do  this  they  lacked  that  specific  Christ- 
Ian  organ." 

I  think  it  was  in  1875,  at  the  time  the  "Workingmen's  Party  of 
Illinois,"  was  organized,  when,  upon  the  invitation  of  a  friend,  I  visit- 
ed the  first  meeting  in  which  a  lecture  on  Socialism  was  delivered. 
Viewed  from  a  rhetorical  standpoint  this  lecture,  delivered  by  a  young 

mechanic,  was  not  very  impressive,  but  the   substance I  will 

simply  say  that  this  lecture  gave  me  the  passepartout  to  the  many  in- 
terrogation marks  which  had  worried  me  for  a  number  of  years. 


AUTOBIOGEAPHICAL  SKETCH.  11 

I  procured  every  piece  01  literature  I  could  get  on  the  subject ; 
whether  it  was  adverse  or  friendly  to  Socialism  made  no  difference. 
In  the  beginning  I  was  a  visionary,  an  enthusiast.  I  believed  as  so 
many  righteous  people  do  to  day  that  the  truth  only  required  to  be  ex- 
pressed, the  argument  only  to  be  made  to  enlist  every  good  man  and 
woman  in  the  good  cause  of  humanity.  In  my  youthful  enthusiasm  I 
forgot  to  apply  the  experience  of  historical  progress  to  this  particular 
case.  But  to  my  great  sorrow  I  soon  became  convinced  that  the  bulk 
of  humanity  were  automatons,  incapable  of  thinking  and  reasoning, 
altogether  unconscious  of  themselves,  simply  tools  of  custom — 

"For  from  the  sordid  is  man  made, 
Usage  and  custom  he  doth  call  his  nurse. 

—Schiller. 

But  nothing  could  discourage  me.  The  study  of  French,  German 
and  English  economist  and  social  scientists  soon  made  me  view  things 
differently  than  I  had  seen  them  in  my  first  enthusiasm.  Buckles 
"History  of  Civilization,"  Karl  Marx'  "Kapital,"  and  Morgan's  "An- 
cient Society"  have  probably  had  the  greatest  influence  over  me  of 
any.  I  now  became  an  attentive  observer  of  the  various  social  phe- 
nomena myself.  The  last  ten  years  have  been  very  favorable  for  such 
investigation  as  I  sought.  I  found  my  favorite  teachers  corroborated 
•everywhere. 

I  think  it  was  in  1877  when  I  first  became  a  member  of  the  Soci- 1 
alistic  Labor  Party.  The  events  of  that  year,  the  brute  force  with 
which  the  whining  and  confiding  wage-slaves  were  met  on  all  sides 
impressed  upon  me  the  neccessity  of  like  resistance.  The  latter  re- 
quired organization.  Shortly  afterwards  I  joined  the  "Lehr  and  Wehr 
Yerein,"  an  armed  organization  of  the  workingmen,  numbering  about 
1,500  well  drilled  members.  As  soon  as  our  patricians  saw  that  the 
•canaille  was  arming  for  defense  to  repel  such  scandalous  attacks  in 
the  future  as  had  been  made  upon  them  in  1877,  they  at  once  com- 
manded their  law  agents  in  Springfield  to  prohibit  workingmen  from 
hearing  arms.  The  command  was  obeyed. 

The  workingmen  also  went  into  politics,  independent  politics.  I 
served  as  a  nominal  candidate  myself  several  times,  but  when  the 
noble  patricians  and  the  political  augurs  saw  that  they  (the  working- 
men)  were  successful  in  electing  a  number  of  their  candidates,  a  con- 
spiracy was  organized  to  disfranchise  them  by  fraudulent  count  and 
like  methods.  The  workingmen  thereupon  left  the  ballot  with  disgust. 


12  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

WHAT    IS    SOCIALISM    AND   WHAT    IS 
ANARCHISM. 


You  ask  me.  Socialism  may  be  defined  as  a  science  dealing  with 
a  concrete  form  of  social  organizalion,  while  Anarchism  (the  nega- 
tion of  imposed  authority)  is  the  thread  that  runs  through  all  the 
ages  of  human  and  social  development,  the  struggle  for  individual 
sovereignty.  While  an  anarchist  in  my  general  conceptions,  I  am  prac- 
tically and  more  specifically  a  socialist.  You  need  not  get  frightened, 
reader.  I  don't  want  your  property ;  nor  do  I  want  to  divide  it  up. 
Oh  no  !  that  isn't  anything  at  all  compared  with  what  I  am  after.  It's 
too  small  an  item  to  begin  with.  I  want  the  earth  !  I  want  you  and 
everyone  to  have  the  earth.  That  is  ridiculous — ?  Aye,  that's  what 
I  used  to  think  when  in  my  boyhood  people  told  me  that  each  of  my 
six  brothers  had  a  sister,  while,  in  fact,  there  was  only  one  sister ! 

I  hope,  I  may  be  excused  from  entering  into  a  lengthy  discussion 
of  this  question  of  "natural  right",  however,  for  it  is  a  very,  very  old 
one ;  it  finds  expression  in  the  teachings  of  the  carpenter's  son  of 
Nazareth;  it  is  embodied  in  the  "declaration  of  independence",  and? 
in  the  abstract,  is  almost  universally  recognized  as  self-contained  and 
unimpeachable.  I  want  to  explain  instead  the  historical  aspect  of 
modern  socialism  and  the  obviously  imperative  necessity  of  its  realiza- 
tion. I  may  do  this  best  by  quoting  from  a  lecture  which  I  delivered 
sometime  ago  before  the  Liberal  League  of  this  city.  1  said : — 

" Modern  Socialism  is  the  substance,  the  result  of  observa- 
tion : — on  one  hand  of  the  existing  class  contrast  between  the  possess- 
ing and  non-possessing  classes,  between  the  capitalists  and  wage- 
worker  ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  of  the  disorder  of  production  and  con- 
sumption   In  its  theoretical  form  Socialism  appears  as  a  more 

consistent  continuation  and  development  of  the  French  philosophers 
of  the  last  century.  Like  all  new  theories  it  had  to  deal  with  and 
proceed  from  already  existing  philosophical  material,  however  deep 

its  roots  lay  in  the  materialistic  economic  facts The  French 

encyclopaedists,  who  prepared  the  way  for  the  great  revolution  and 
whose  ideas  where  adopted  likewise  by  the  revolutionists  of  America, 
negated  all  external  authority  and  cleared  away  the  old  rubbish  of 
superstitious  beliefs — religion,  perception  of  nature,  of  society,  etc. 
All  existing  things  were  subjected  to  their  scrutinous  critique.  Every- 
thing was  called  upon  to  justify  its  existence  before  the  tribunal  of 
reason,  or  cease  to  exist It  was  the  dawn  of  day,  the  age  of 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  13 

reason.  Superstition,  iniquity,  privileges  and  oppression  were  alike 
condemned  to  make  room  for  what  they  considered  'eternal  truth, 

eternal  justice,  equality  and  the  inalienable  rights  of  man" We 

know  now  that  this  reign  of  reason  was  nothing  more  than  the  ideal 
land  of  the  bourgeoisie,  that  the  eternal  justice  was  realized  in  the 
bourgeois  justice ;  that  the  proclaimed  equality  was  the  civil  equality 
before  the  law ;  that  by  inalienable  rights  of  man  was  meant  the  right 

of  private  property The  thinkers  of  the  last  century  could,  of 

course,  not  see  beyond  the  periphery  of  their  own  epoch Then 

followed  the  regime  of  the  bourgeoisie  with  all  its  evils.  The  utopist- 
socialists  St.  Simon,  Fourrier,  Owen  and  many  others  appear  upon 
the  stage.  Though  they  observe  the  disastrous  reign  of  the  money- 
bag, the  cultivation  of  hypocrisy,  the  enslavement  of  the  masses  and 
their  misery  under  the  typical  system  of  private  property  and  the 
latters  agency — the  civil  government :  they  are  idealists ;  they  follow 
the  path  of  their  predecessors ;  they  only  partly  recognize  the  class 
contrast,  and  seek  to  harmonize  the  contending  forces  again  on  the 

principle  of  "reason",  "eternal  justice"  and  "equality" The 

bourgeoisie  meanwhile  proved  a  total  failure  in  the  management  of 
things.  The  chasm  between  rich  and  poor  was  widening  day  by  day ; 
the  condition  of  the  wage-workers,  instead  of  improving,  were  worse 
than  formerly  under  the  feudal  system.  Their  former  privileges  had 
been  swept  away,  they  found  themselves  now  absolutely  at  the  mercy 
of  those  whom  they  had  helped  into  power  . .  . .  The  progress  and 
thrift  of  industry  upon  the  capitalistic  basis  made  poverty  and  misery  of 
the  producing  masses  a  necessary  condition  of  that  society.  The  number 
of  crimes  multiplied  from  year  to  year ;  corruption  took  the  place  of 
subjection  by  force ;  the  almighty  dollar  took  the  place  of  the  sword; 
prostitution  spread  as  never  before,  matrimony  remained  in  its  lawful 
recognized  form — the  official  cover  of  prostitution;  in  short,  things 
had  become  worse.  These  facts  forced  upon  the  thinkers  a  closer 
observation  of  the  social  phenomena  and  an  analysis  of  the  historical 
development  of  our  race.  The  result  wras  the  discovery  and  establish- 
ment of  the  fact  that  all  historical  changes  had  been  the  result  of  class 
struggles,  and  that  these  struggles  had  invariably  been  caused  by  the 
systems  of  production  and  communication — by  the  economic  systems 
of  their  respective  epochs  ;  further,  that  the  economic  structure  of  society 
forms  the  basis  of  all  political,  ethical  and  philosophical  conceptions 
and  institutions.  This  discorery  was  the  end  of  ideal  socialism.  And 
the  materialistic  period  with  socialism  as  an  empiric  science  begins. 

"The  next  step  was  the  analysis  of  our  present  capitalistic  system 
of  production.     It  was  necessary  that  we  should  understand  its  inner- 


14  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

most  nature  and  thus  find  the  key  fo  the  phenomena.     This  led  us  to 
the  discovery  of  the  law  of  surplus  value. 

These  two  discoveries,  then,  form  the  basis  of  what  is  called 
modern  or  scientific  socialism.  It  is  from  these  premises  the  socialist 
draws  his  deductions." 

What  surplus  value  means  is  more  comprehensively  demonstrated 
by  the  existing  condition  of  society,  to  wit :  the  immense  wealth  of  the 
non-producing,  and  the  poverty  of  the  producing  classes,  than  could 
be  done  in  a  lengthy  theoretical  treatise.  Moreover,  I  do  not  intend 
to  enter  into  a  minute  discussion  of  economic  questions  in  this  short 
sketch.  In  passing  I  will  simply  give  a  short  definition  of  what  is 
meant  by  surplus  value. 

Only  a  small  fraction — as  our  statistical  manuals  show — of  the 
exchange-value  of  his  product  is  returned  to  the  worker  in  wages,  as 
an  "equivalent"  for  his  labor,  while  the  remainder  over  and  above  the 
cost  of  production  capitalizes  in  the  hands  of  the  employer  and  his 
co-profitmongers.  Capitalization  means  that  this  unpaid  labor  is  now 
used  for  reproductive  purposes  and  thus  for  further  exploitation  of 
those,  from  whom  it  was  withheld.  Ever  increasing,  it  is  sent  out,  so 
to  speak,  on  the  same  errand  again  and  again,  and  may  be  likened  to 
the  snow  ball,  which,  rolling  down  the  mountain,  is  gradually  trans- 
formed into  an  avalanche. 

It  is  now  generally  admitted  by  all  economists  that  capital  is 
unpaid  labor  or  surplus  value ;  that  wherever  we  find  it,  is  has  been 
acquired  in  the  above  mentioned  way. 

Now,  under  this  system  of  private  capitalism  production  is  not 
carried  on  as  a  social  function  for  the  gratification  of  our  necessities 
and  our  comfoit ;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  carried  on  as  an  enterprise  by 
individuals  who  happen  to  be  in  the  possession  of  unpaid  labor 
(capital)— for  the  common  good?  Nonsense  !  for  personal  gain  ! 

The  most  vital  functions,  upon  which  the  entire  social  fabric  rests, 
we  find  thus  arbitrarily  managed  for  speculative  purposes,  for  per- 
sonal gain,  by  a  small  number  of  avaricious  and  unscrupulous  indi- 
viduals    Society  must  resume  these  functions  of  production  and 

distribution !  Yet,  it  is  not  likely  that  it  will  do  so,  because,  it  would 
be  a  sensible  and  practical  step, — society  will  be  forced  to  do  so  by 
necessity !  And  this  necessity  is  making  itself  felt  more  and  more 
every  day. 

Fools  !  who  think  that  this  growth  of  socialistic  ideas,  the  general 
discontent  of  the  impoverished  producing  classes  is  the  work  of 
"malicious  agitators" ! 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  15 

Fools  !  who  can  not  or  will  not  see  that  society  is  in  a  state  of  dis- 
integration, in  a  state  of  transition,  emerging  from  one  specific  form 
of  organization  into  another !  And  be  it  said  right  here  that  this  other 
is  not  the  scheme  of  "cranks",  nor  the  theory  of  impracticable 
dreamers :  The  new  organization  is  the  natural  offspring  of  the  present 
one.  It  is  no  metaphysical  homuncultis,  but  a  sort  of  a  Hercules,  who 
killed  serpents  when  but  a  child.  Yes,  the  capitalistic  system  is  the 
parent  of  socialism !  Capitalism  demonstrates  the  practicability  of 
socialism,  and  furnishes  all  the  requisites  for  a  general  system  of 
co-operation.  And  it  doesn't  stop  there.  But  by  expropriating  (dis- 
possessing) the  masses,  by  obliterating  the  middle  class,  and  by  deny- 
ing the  right  to  work  and  live  to  the  many,  capitalism  forces  the  people 
unconsciously  but  irresistibly  into  socialism. 

The  avowed  socialists  are  only  an  insignificant  number  when 
compared  with  those  who  are  Socialist  without  knowing  ic. 

The  former  are  falsly  looked  upon  as  dangerous  men ;  the 
danger  lies  with  the  latter.  The  conscious  socialist  looks  upon  every 
event  as  the  causal  result  of  existing  and  former  conditions ;  he  bears 
no  personal  enmity  to  the  capitalist ;  knowing  perfectly  well  that  the 
individual  acts  not  by  his  or  her  own  volition  and  free  will,  but  under 
the  general  social  laws :  the  force  of  circumstances  and  conditions. 
The  unconscious  socialist  on  the  other  hand  (and  this  includes  every- 
body who  is  not  an  avowed  socialist)  view  everything  from  the  stand- 
point of  personal  responsibility ;  they  ascribe  the  wrongs  under  which 
they  suffer  to  individual  persons,  whom  they  then  begin  to  denounce 
and  hate ;  they  are  blind  as  to  the  real  causes  of  their  sufferings,  they 
kick  against  effects  and  fight  after  the  fashion  of  Don  Quixote  against 
wind-mills  and  all  sorts  of  imaginary  foes.  The  bloody  course  revo- 
lutions have  generally  taken  can  be  traced  to  the  blindness  of  these 
unconscious  anti-revolutionary  revolutionists ...... 

The  socialists  are  simply  the  exponents  and  interpreters  of  the 
revolution  that  is  taking  place  in  the  economic  body.  This  revo- 
lution has  been  brought  about  by  capitalism,  not  by  Socialism.  The 
Socialists  point  out  the  tendency  of  this  revolution,  which  is  the 
establishment  of  a  new  principle ;  the  principle  of  universal  co-opera- 
tion in  production.  Or  in  othsr  words :  the  principle  that  the  pre- 
servation and  well-being  of  society  demand  that  the  latter  assume  tne 
function  of  production  and  distribution. 

What  a  horrible  thing  that  is  ! 


16  AUTOBIOGKAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

ANAECHISM. 
"Eternal  natures  law : 
Above,  below,  around, 
The  circling  system,  formed 
A  wilderness  of  harmony  ; 
Each  with  undeviating  aim 
In  eloquent  silence,  through  the  depths  of  space, 
Pursues  its  wond'rous  way. 

I  tell  thee  that  those  viewless  beings 

Whose  mansion  is  the  smallest  particle  of  the  impassvie 

atmosphere — 

Think,  feel  and  live,  like  man 
That  their  affections  and  antipathies, 
Like  his,  produce  the  laws 
Euling  their  moral  state ; 
And  the  minutest  throb 
That  through  their  frame  diffuses 
The  slightest  faintest  motion 
Is  fixed  and  indispensable 
As  the  majestic  laws 
That  rule  yon  rolling  orb." 

[SHELLEY.] 

This  is  a  poetical  version  of  the  scientific  principle  of  anarchism. 

Here  is  one  in  prose  by  the  immortal  Henry  Thomas  Buckle : 

" It  is  surely  an  astonishing  fact,  that  all  the  evidence  we 

possess  respecting  it  (the  commission  of  crime)  points  to  one  great 
conclusion,  and  can  leave  no  doubt  on  our  minds  that  it  (crime)  is 
merely  the  product  of  the  general  condition  of  society  and  that  the 
individual  felon  only  carries  into  effect  what  is  a  necessary  conse- 
quence of  preceding  circumstances.  In  a  given  state  of  society,  (for 
instance,)  a  certain  number  of  persons  must  put  an  end  to  their  own 
life.  This  is  the  general  law ;  and  the  special  question  as  to  who  shall 
commit  the  crime  depends  of  course  upon  special  laws ;  which,  how- 
ever, in  their  total  action,  must  obey  the  large  social  law  to  which 
they  are  all  subordinate.  And  the  power  of  the  larger  law  is  so 
irresistible,  that  neither  the  love  of  life  nor  the  fear  of  another  world 
can  avail  anything  towards  even  checking  its  operation " 

" Even  the  number  of  marriages  annually  contracted,  is 

determined,  not  by  the  temper  and  wishes  of  individuals,  but  by  large 
general  facts,  over  which  individuals  can  excercise  no  authority.  In 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  17 

England,  it  is  now  known,  that  marriages  bear   a  fixed  and  definite 

relation  to  the  price  of  corn " 

The  same  thinker  and  historian  at  another  place  says  : 

" The  best  laws  which  have  ever  been  passed,  have  been 

those  by  which  some  former  laws  were  repealed And  since 

the  most  valuable  improvements  in  legislation  are  those  which  sub- 
vert preceding  legislation,  it  is  clear  that  the  progress  of  civilization 
cannot  be  due  to  those,  who  have  done  so  much  harm,  that  their  suc- 
cessors are  consindered  benefactors,  simply  because  they  reverse  their 
policy,  and  thus  restore  affairs  to  the  state,  in  which  they  would  have 
remained,  if  politicians  had  allowed  them  to  run  on  in  the  course 
which  the  wants  of  society  required.  Indeed  the  extent  to  which  the 
governing  classes  have  interfered,  and  the  mischief  which  that  inter- 
ference has  produced,  are  so  remarkable,  as  to  make  thoughtful  men 
wonder  how  civilization  could  advance,  in  the  face  of  all  these 
obstacles  (laws) " 

Hear  we  what  Thomas  Paine  has  to  say  on  the  subject  of  govern- 
ment more  than  50  years  before  the  discoveries  of  Buckle   concerning' 
the  laws  of  social  phenomena  were  thought    of.      He  begins  his 
"Political  Works:" 

"Some  writers  have  so  confounded  society  with  government,  as  to 

leave  little  or  no  distinction  between  them Society  is  produced 

by  our  wants,  and  government  by  our  wickedness Society  in 

every  state  is  a  blessing,  but  government,  even  in  its  best  state,  is 
but  a  necessary  evil ;  in  its  worst  state  an  intolerable  one " 

Another  "anarchist  fiend,"  Herbert  Spencer,  has  a  great  deal  to 
say  about  law  and  government.  Not  living  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
Messrs.  Grinnell,  Gary  and  the  "Gentlemen  Jury,"  it  is  quite  an  easy 
thing  for  him  to  do  so.  I  will  quote  from  him  just  a  few  passages 
(Synthetic  Philosophy" — page  514.) 

" And  here  we  are  again  reminded  that  law  formulates  the 

rule  of  the  dead  over  the  living.  In  addition  to  that  power  which  past 
generations  by  transmitting  their  natures,  bodily  and  mental ;  and  in 
addition  to  the  power  they  exercise  over  them  by  bequeathed  private 
habits  and  modes  of  life ;  there  is  this  power  they  exercise  through 
these  regulations  for  public  conduct  handed  down  orally  or  in  writ- 
ing    I  emphasize  these  obvious  truths  for  the  purpose  of  point- 
ing out  that  they  imply  a  tacit  ancestorworship.  I  wish  to  make  it 
clear  that  when  asking  in  any  case — What  is  the  law  ?  we  are  asking — 

What  was  the    dictate    of   our  forefathers  ? For    along   with 

development  of  the  ghost-theory,  there  arises  the  practice  of  appealing 

V 


18  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

to  ghosts  for  direction  in  specialcases  The  divine  laws  and  the 

special  laws  which  originate  from  personal  authority,  have  inequality 

as  their  common  essential  principle " 

Herbert  Spencer  follows  up  this  "pernicious  doctrine"  and  then 
draws  the  following  conclusion : 

" Already  in  respect  of  religious  opinions  there  is  practically 

conceded  the  right  of  the  individual  to  disobey  the  law,  even  though  it 
expresses  the  will  of  the  majority. . . .  There  is  a  tacit  recognition  of 
a  warrant  higher  than  that  of  State-enactments,  whether  regal  or 
popular  in  origin.  These  ideas  and  feelings  are  all  significant  of  pro- 
gress towards  the  view,  proper  to  the  developed  industrial  state,  that 
the  justification  for  a  law  is  that  it  enforces  one  or  other  of  the  con- 
ditions to  harmonious  social  co-operation ;  and  that  it  is  unjustified 
(enacted  by  no  mttter  how  high  an  authority  or  how  general  an 
opinion)  if  it  traverses  these  conditions.  And  this  is  tantamount  to 

saying  that  the  laws will  finally  become  an  applied  system  of 

ethics-^or  rather  of  that  part  of  ethics  which  concerns  men's  just  rela- 
tions with  one  another  and  with  the  community." 

Burke,  the  famous  English  statesman  of  a  century  ago,  wrote  the 
most  cutting  satire  on  the  "state"  and  "laws"  that  probably  ever  was 
written  on  the  subject,  showing — what  the  French  economist  and 
philosopher  Proudhon  and  others  claim — that  the  socalled  civil  state 
is  nothing  less  than  a  conspiracy  of  the  privileged  classes  against  the 
people.  The  eminent  American  philosopher  Emerson,  too,  was  a 

"wild  eyed"  anarchist "Not  he  who  implicitly  obeys  the  laws  of 

the  land  is  the  good  citizen the  best  citizens  are  generally  those 

who  brake  down  the  barries  of  the  law  and  thus  lead  on  to  progress." 
I  quote  the  anarchist  Emerson  from  memory,  and  will  not 
vouch  for  the  correctness  of  the  quotation,  but  it  is  the  same  in 
essence. 

Then  there  was  Anarchist  Wendell  Phillips,  a  man  who  stands  a 
gigantic  monument  of  intellect  and  nobility  of  heart  among  the 
greatest  of  Columbia  sons.  From  his  speeches  and  writings  enough 
"incendiary  and  anarchistic  matter"  could  be  collected  to  hang  every 
anarchist  in  Cook  County,  111., — providing,  of  coucse,  that  the  vindica- 
tion of  "outraged  law"  were  left  to  Messrs.  Grinnell,  Gary,  Bonfield 
Bros,  and  the  "gentlemen-jury."  In  the  hands  of  these  dexterous 
gentlemen,  there  would  be  110  difficulty  at  all  in  establishing  a  con- 
structive conspiracy ;  no,  not  the  least ! 

Goethe,  too, — Wolfgang  Goethe,  the  literary  lion  of  Germany,  the 
great  philosopher — he,  too,  was  an  Anarchist.  His  "Wahlvervvandt- 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  19 

schaften"  (Affinity  of  selection)  is  an  excellent  demonstration  of 
anarchism.  I  will  translate  and  quote  just  one  passage  : 

" In  the  education  of  children  and  in  the  leading  of  nations 

there  is  nothing  more  stupid  and  barbaric  than  prohibitory  laws  and 
regulations.  In  my  circles  I  would  rather  endure  faults  and  weak- 
nesses, until  they  had  made  room  for  better  qualities,  than  to  get  rid 
of  the  faults  and  have  nothing  sensible  to  take  their  places.  Man 
naturally  loves  to  do  that  which  is  good  and  practical, — if  he  only 

can He  does  vicious  things  only  when  kept  in  idleness  from 

ennui. ...  It  displeases  me  to  see  children  repeat  the  Ten  Command- 
ments. There  is  the  fifth  for  instance — "Thou  shalt  not  commit  mur- 
der." As  though  man  had  the  least  desire  to  kill  one  another.  We 
hate  one,  we  get  angry  and  excited  and  in  consequence  of  this  and 
other  circumstances,  it  may  occasionally  happen  that  one  man  is 
killed  by  another.  But  is  it  not  a  barbarous  institution  to  prohibit 
children  to  commit  murder  ?  If  it  read :  Take  care  of  the  life  of 
others ;  remove  what  might  be  injurious  to  them ;  help  the  other  and 
save  him  at  the  risk  of  your  own  life  !  If  you  do  him  harm,  think 
that  you  harm  yourself. — That  is  tlie  way  commandments  ought  to 
read  among  intelligent  and  sensible  nations " 

Now  here  is  Lessing,  the  profound  thinker  and  unexcelled  critic, 
Germany's  literary  genius  of  the  last  century. 

"He  an  anarchist,  too — ?" 

Yes,  and  a  very  radical  one  at  that !  Eead  the  following  dialogue 
he  has  written  on  Soldiers  and  Monks  : — 

A :  Is  it  not  startling,  when  one  considers  that  we  have  more 
Monks  than  soldiers*  ? 

B:  Startling?  Why  not  just  as  well  get  frightened  because 
there  are  more  soldiers  than  monks?  For  the  ona  applies  only 
to  this  or  that  country  and  not  to  everyone  alike.  What  are  Monks, 
and  what  are  soldiers  ? 

A :     Soldiers  are  the  protectors  of  the  state  etc. ! 

B :     Monks  are  the  pillars  of  the  church ! 

A  :     With  your  church  ! 

B  :     With  your  state  ! 

^ .     __ 

B  :    You  mean  to  say  that  there  are  far  more  soldiers  than  monks. 

A :     No,  no  !  more  monks  than  soldiers  ! 

B :  With  reference  to  this  or  that  country  you  may  be  right.  But 
generally  speaking  ?  When  the  farmer  sees  his  crop  destroyed  by 
snails  and  mice — which  is  the  most  shocking  to  him  ?  That  there  are 
more  snails  than  mice,  or  that  there  are  so  many  snails  and  mice  ? 


20  AUTOBIOGKAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

A :     I  don't  understand  you. 

B :    You  don't  want  to  understand  me.    What  are  soldiers? 

A :     Protectors  of  the  state. 

B :    And  monks  are  the  pillars  of  the  church. 

A  :     With  your  church ! 

B :     With  your  state ! 

A  :  Are  you  dreaming  ?  The  state !  The  state !  The  happiness 
that  the  state  awards  to  every  single  individual  in  this  life  ! 

B:  The  eternal  bliss  the  church  promises  to  every  one  after 
this  life! 

A :     Promises ! 

B:    Dupe!"    —    — 

I  think  the  above  quotations  will  suffice  to  show  what  "incarnate 
miscreants",  "half  distracted  fools",  "vicious  curs",  "venomous  rept- 
iles", "scum  of  society",  "beasts  who  must  be  exterminated",  etc. 
those  men  have  been  and  are  to  whom  we  have  looked  up  in  almost 
reverential  admiration;  to  whom  we  have  erected  monuments  by  the 
score ! 

It  is  a  notable  fact  that,  with  but  very  few  exceptions,  all  eminent 
thinkers  within  the  last  hundred  years  have  arrived  at  the  same  con- 
clusion, as  variously  expressed  in  these  citations — namely,  that  society 
is  an  organism  which  follows  the  inevitable  power  of  its  own  laws; 
that,  whether  we  understand  them  or  not,  we  can  not  disobey  them, 
because  they  constitute  the  fundamental  conditions  of  our  existence — 
they  envelop  us,  penetrate  us,  regulate  our  movements,  thoughts  and 
acts; — and  that  therefore  the  attempts  of  legislators,  courts,  etc.  to 
interfere  with  the  operations  and  processes  of  the  social  body  by  com- 
pulsory laws  and  by  brute  force  are  not  only  futile  and  absurd,  but 
injurious  and  barbarous. 

This  is  the  doctrine  of  anarchism,  reader.  I  have  not  quoted  a 
single  "authority"  to  whose  name  the  "stigma"  of  socialist  or  anar- 
chist is  attached.  This  is  the  "pernicious  doctrine"  which  was  recently 
on  trial  in  Gary's  court — "anarchism  is  on  trial !  we  must  stamp  it 
out!"  shouted  Grinnell.  "We  will!"  replied  the  judge  and  the 
"gentlemen  jury",  and  it  was  accordingly  consigned  to  the  gallows. 

Professor  B.  T.  Ely  of  Hopkins  University,  a  constant  reader  of 
the  "Arbeiter  Zeitung",  has  recently  published  a  book  on  the  labor 
movement  in  America ;  in  which  I  find  the  following  remark : 

"No  Newspaper  in  the  United  States  has  given  so  much  space  to 
natural  science  and  its  great  lights  as  those  published  by  the  Chicago 
Internationals." 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  21 

True !  The  Turkish  government  has  recently  prohibited  the  sale 
of  Schlosser's  "History  of  the  World".  Why  should  not  that  of 
Chicago  suppress  publications  who  give  so  much  space  to  such  "in- 
cendiary" matters  as  science,  and  exterminate  their  editors? 

Science  and  history  are  very  unhealthy  things  for  governments— 
very! 

Before  I  close  this  chapter  I  will  quote  from  a  letter  of  Benjamin 
Franklin  to  the  British  minister,  written  shortly  before  the  revolution- 
ary war.  I  do  this  to  show  that  the  cry  of  the  privileged  class  against 
the  "socialist  agitators"  in  our  age  is  in  fact  only  a  repetition  of  that 
which  was  raised  by  the  capitalist  papers  and  the  government  of  Eng- 
land against  the  revolutionist  of  America  a  hundred  years  ago.  Then  as 
now  the  discontent  of  the  people  was  the  work  of  "vicious  dema- 
gogues and  half-distracted  American  fools" — so  the  English  press  and 
government  said,  and  the  extermination  of  the  "discord  breeding 
criminals"  was  loudly  called  for  in  the  same  language  that  fills  the 
columns  of  the  capitalist  press  of  this  country  to-day.  But  here  is 
the  letter ;  it  speaks  for  itself : 

" If  the  injured  and  exasperated  farmers,  unable  to  procure 

justice,  should  attack  the  aggressors,  (*)  drub  them  and  burn  their 
boats ;  you  are  to  call  this  high  treason  arid  rebellion,  order  fleets  and 
armies  into  their  country,  and  threaten  to  carry  all  the  offenders  3000 
miles  to  be  hanged,  drawn  and  quartered. — 0,  this  will  work  admirably ! 

"If  you  are  told  of  discontents  in  your  colonies,  never  believe  that 
they  are  general,  or  that  you  have  given  occasion  for  them ;  therefore 
do  not  think  of  applying  any  remedy,  or  of  changing  any  offensive 
measure.  Redress  no  grievance,  lest  they  should  be  encouraged  to 
demand  the  redress  of  some  other  grievance.  Grant  no  request  that 
is  just  and  reasonable,  lest  they  should  make  another  that  is  unreas- 
onable. Take  all  your  information  of  the  state  of  the  colonies  from 
your  governors  and  officers  in  enmity  with  them.  Encourage  and  re- 
ward these  leasing-makers ;  secrete  their  lying  accusations,  lest  they 
should  be  computed;  but  act  upon  them  as  the  clearest  evidence. 
And  believe  nothing  you  hear  from  the  friends  of  the  people.  Suppose 
all  their  complaints  to  be  invented  and  promoted  by  a  few  factious 
demagogues,  whom  if  you  could  catch  and  hang,  all  would  be  quiet. — 
Catch  and  hang  a  few  of  them  accordingly ;  and  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  shall  work  miracles  in  favor  of  your  purpose " 


(*)  Meaning  the  officers  of  the  law  and  guardians  of  the  "peace". 


22  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

AS    EDITOR   OF  THE  ARBEITER-ZEITUNG. 


In  1872  the  Chicago  section  of  the  old  International  started  a 
socialistic  German  weekly,  "Vorbote."  "Vorbote"  translated  into 
English  means  Forerunner  or  Pioneer.  The  Honorable  Pinkerton 
claims  that  the  word  means  free-booter ;  he  asserts  this  in  a  book 
written  by  himself,  and  since  the  gentleman's  reputation  for  truth  and 
veracity  is  almost  monumental,  we  had  better  believe  than  dispute 
with  him.  The  ''Vorbote"  remained  a  weekly  until  shortly  after  the 
police-  and  militia-riots  ir.  1877,  when  there  was  added  to  it  a  tri- 
weekly. The  wholly  unjustifiable  clubbing  and  killing  of  workingmen, 
the  unconstitutional  assaults  of  the  police  upon  peaceable  meetings 
during  these  riots  had  given  such  an  impetus  to  the  labor-movement 
in  this  city,  that  in  1879  the  tri-weekly  "Arbeiter-Zeitung"  had  to  be 
transformed  into  a  daily,  including  a  sunday  issue  ("Fackel.")  These 
papers,  published  by  the  Socialistic  Publishing  Society,  of  which  any 
man,  if  he  belonged  to  the  Socialistic  Labor  Party,  could  become  a 
member  by  paying  an  initiation  fee  of  10  cts.,  were  very  prosperous. 
In  the  spring  of  1879  the  socialistic  ticket,  headed  by  Dr.  Ernst  Schmidt 
as  candidate  for  the  mayorality,  received  over  12,000  votes.  In  the 
summer  of  the  same  year,  however,  the  transactions  and  behavior  of 
some  of  the  members  in  connection  with  the  judiciary  election  brought 
dissensions  into  the  ranks  of  the  young  party,  which  greatly  diminish- 
ed its  numbers  and  also  reduced  the  subscription  list  of  the  organ. 
Mismanagement  and  other  causes,  added  to  the  loss  of  subscribers, 
soon  brought  the  "Arbeiter-Zeitung"  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy.  It 
was  in  the  spring  of  1880  when,  upon  the  urgent  request  of  the  society, 
I  took  hold  of  the  business-management,  and  succeeded  in  saving  the 
ship  from  sinking.  Shortly  after,  I  was  elected  to  the  editorship, 
which  position  I  have  held  until  the  5th  of  May,  the  day  of  my  arrest. 

Six  years  of  arduous  labor !  Aside  from  my  editorial  work  (daily, 
Sunday  and  weekly)  I  had  to  superintend  the  business ; — working  from  12 
to  16  hours  a  day.  The  exertion  was  too  great  and  I  broke  down  sever- 
al times ;  however  my  strong  constitution  triumphed  and  I  continued 
my  labor. 

Most  people  think  that  editing  a  paper  is  the  easiest  thing  in  the 
world.  They  will  pardon  me,  when  I  disagree  with  them.  I  am  not 
particularly  supercilious,  but  in  this  matter  I  maintain  that  there  is 
scarcely  to  be  found  a  calling  more  laborious,  more  wearing  and  un- 
grateful than  that  of  the  editor  of  a  daily  paper.  If  this  is  true  with 
reference  to  the  ordinary  newspaper,  it  is  thrice  true  when  applied  to 
workingmen's  papers  and  journals  who  advocate  progressive  principles. 


AUTOBIOGKAPHICAL  SKETCH.  23 

Every  reader  of  the  last  mentioned  papers  is  a  critic,  who  considers  it 
his  most  sacred  duty  to  find  fault.  And  among  all  the  critics,  the 
German  is  the  most  triffling,  stickling,  reckless  and  merciless.  Again, 
the  readers  of  these  journals,  being  of  a  progressive  turn  of  mind,  have 
their  individual  hobbies,  and — woe  to  the  editor  if  he  fails  to  recognize 
in  each  one  of  them  the  long  looked  for  panacea  ! 

He  is,  moreover,  looked  upon  as  a  sort  of  public  conveyance,  al- 
ways expected  to  be  at  everybody's  disposal.  Every  disappointment 
means  so  much  more  evidence  that  he  is  a  "conceited  ass"  etc. 

A  lady  reader  is  displeased  with  her  husbands  behavior.  She 
comes  to  see  the  editor.  It  is  a  long  and  sorrowful  tale  she  recites. 
Tears,  handkerchief  and  heavy  sighs  give  emphasis  to  her  story. 

"Madame,  you  desire  to  apply  for  a  divorce — you  want  me  to  re- 
commend you  to  a  lawyer?"  the  editor  interrupts  her  compassionately 
as  the  compositors  cry  for  copy — "I  will  " 

"No,  no  !  let  me  tell  you — 1  am  coming  to  it" — madame  imper- 
turbably  continues.  And  she  finally  does  "come  to  it,"  that  is,  after 
having  been  told  a  dozen  times  to  be  brief,  she  finishes  in  about  an- 
other hour  with  another  deep  sigh  and  the  assurance  that  she  could 
tell  a  great  deal  more  if  she  only  wanted  to. 

A  divorce  ?  No,  no  !  she  never  thought  of  such  a  thing.  She  had 
simply  come  to  get  some  sound  advice  from  the  editor  of  the  paper 
that  "stands  up  so  bravely  for  the  women." 

On  the  following  day  the  husband  makes  his  appearance.  He  has 
come  to  have  "a  word"  with  the  editor,  but  on  beholding  the  com- 
placent countenance  of  this  important  personage  he  contents  himself 
by  bestowing  a  disdainful  look  on  him  and  ordering  the  d — d  paper  to 
be  discontinued. 

It  was  nothing  unusual  to  me  to  be  called  upon  by  husbands  seek- 
ing advice  as  to  how  the  infidelity  of  their  spouses  might  be  cured. 
But  perpetual  motion  genii,  poets  and  other  gentlemen  of  aspirations 
I  consider  the  most  troublesome  of  the  many  plagues  that  combine  to 
make  "newspaper  life"  perfect  and  pleasant. 

The  editor  of  a  workingmen's  paper  has  many  other  things,  grave 
things,  to  contend  with.  Here  an  employer  has  cheated  one  of  his 
workers  out  of  his  wages ;  there  another  one  has  made  an  improper 
proposal  to  a  working  girl ;  here  a  worker  has  lost  a  hand  or  some  fin- 
gers in  a  machine  because  of  the  avarice  of  a  boss,  who  refused  to  pro- 
vide the  necessary  safeguards ;  there  a  man  was  discharged  because  he 
expressed  his  sympathy  with  some  men  "out  on  a  strike",  etc. — It  is 
the  duty  of  a  workingmen's  journal  to  record  all  these  things,  bring 


24  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

them  to  the  knowledge  of  the  public  and  show  the  effects  of  an  eco- 
nomic system  under  which  the  producers  are  but  articles  of  merchan- 
dise—a particular  kind  of  merchandise  of  which  the  market  is  over- 
stocked, and,  which,  like  old  worthless  rags,  can  be  picked  up  in  the 
streets  and  alley's  without  difficulty.  It  is  the  duty,  I  say,  of  working- 
men's  journals  to  publish  these  things,  because  the  capitalistic  papers 
refuse  to  do  so.  Why  ?  Oh,  the  employer  advertises  in  their  columns, 
and,  then,  the  publication  of  such  villainies  would  tend  to  disrupt  the 
"harmonious  relations  between  labor  and  capital !" 

Now,  when  such  reports  appeared  in  the  "Arbeiter  Zeitung",  the 
respective  employer  would  generally  draw  up  a  denial  of  the  charges, 
demand  of  his  employes  to  sign  it  (purporting  to  come  from  them)  and 
upon  the  strength  of  this  document  demand  a  retraction  in  our 
columns.  While  in  some  instances  the  charges  may  have  been  false 
or  exaggerated,  investigation  showed  that  in  almost  every  case  they 
were  only  too  true,  and  that  the  workers  had  been  forced  to  sign  the 
refutation,  i.  e.  they  had  signed  it  in  preference  to  losing  their  job. 

Yes,  it  is  the  task  of  a  Sisyphus  to  work  in  such  a  field ! 

Another  plague  of  which,  however,  I  managed  to  get  rid,  were  the 
politicians.  When  they  saw  that  they  could  do  absolutely  nothing  with 

me,  they,  desisted  in  their  endeavors,  and  put  me  down  as  a  "d 

crank". 

In  this  mercantile  age,  reader,  everything  is  "business",  and  it 
must  be  noted  as  a  characteristic  circumstance  that  whosoever  is  not 
in  the  market,  not  for  sale,  is  at  once  looked  upon  as  a  crank !  Truly, 
a  most  delightful  condition  of  affairs ! 

While  in  this  way  I  had  brought  the  wrath  of  every  factory-czar 
and  politican  down  upon  me,  there  were  others  who  were  still  more 
attached  to  me — the  police. 

The  "Arbeiter- Zeitung"  was  the  only  paper  in  the  city  that  dared 
to  expose  the  outrageous  villainies  and  criminal  practices  of  these 
drunken  and  degraded  brutes.  And  their  blackmailing  exploits  as 
well  as  their  other  knightly  sports  were  deservedly  commented  upon. 
They  evidently  did  not  appreciate  the  publicity  of  their  professional 
manipulations,  for  I  was  frequently  threatened  and  our  reporters  were 
often  insulted  when  they  went  to  the  stations.  About  1£  year  ago  a 
young  servant  girl  (Martha  Seidel)  was  arrested  at  the  instance  of  a 
malicious  person  on  a  petty  charge  and  was  locked  up  at  the  West 
Chicago  Ave.  station. 

In  violation  of  all  law  the  girl,  who  was  of  quite  comely  appear- 
ance, was  kept  in  the  station  for  several  days  and  then  secretly  taken 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  25 

to  the  county  jail.  When  she  arrived  at  the  latter  place  she  was  un- 
concious  and  showed  symptoms  of  serious  illness.  It  was  rumored 
that  everything  was  not  as  straight  as  it  might  be.  I  went  to  see  the 
sick  girl,  taking  her  mother  along  with  me ;  and  to  her  she  told  a 
shocking  story.  While  in  the  station  she  had  been  taken  from  the 
cell  and  carried  into  the  private  room  of  the  desk  sergeant.  Her  con- 
dition corroberated  her  assertion  that  there  she  had  been  repeatedly 
outraged;  her  undergarments  also  bore  evidence  of  what  had  oc- 

cured I  procured  a  warrant  against  the  desk-sergeant,  who  was 

identified  by  the  girl,  and  had  him  indicted Need  I  add  that  the 

"gentleman"  wes  acquitted  like  every  other  policeman  that  has  ever 
been  put  to  the  comedy  of  a  trial  in  Cook  County  ? — The  poor  girl,  as 
far  as  I  know,  never  fully  recovered. 

Friends  told  me  at  the  time  that  the  police  were  determined  "to 
get  even  with  me ;"  they  cautioned  me  to  be  particularly  on  my  guard 
when  out  at  night,  lest  a  stray  "law  and  order"  bullet  might  send  me 
to  the  orcus.  These  friends,  some  of  them  politicians  who  often  came 
in  contact  with  the  "guardians  of  the  peace,"  were  satisfied  that  "they 
would  not  stop  at  anything." 

I  narrate  this  particular  case  because  it  is  one  in  which  I  took  the 
part  of  a  public  prosecutor.  The  girl  and  her  parents  were  poor  and 
ignorant  people,  who  knew  not  what  to  do,  and  neither  Mr.  Grinnell 
nor  the  Citizens'  Association  paid  the  least  attention  to  the  case.  I 
narrate  this  particular  affair,  because  it  is  more  likely  to  show  the 
kind  and  friendly  feelings  Bonfield's  "law-  and  liberty-guards"  have 
for  me,  and  the  high  esteem  in  which  they  hold  me,  than  many  of  the 
others  I  could  relate. 

During  the  reign  of  terror  in  this  city  in  May  last,  the  starspan- 
gled,  shooting  and  clubbing  votaries  of  Liberty,  while  searching  for  dy- 
namite in  private  houses  told  the  people  that  they  just  wanted  to  find 

"enuff  of  doinemoit  to  blow  that Spies  up  with."    And,  skeptic* 

though  I  am,  I  have  never  for  one  minute  questioned  the  sincerity  o 
this  prettily  expressed  intention. — 

After  this  digression  I  will  again  return  to  my  activity  in  the  labor 
movement  as  editor  of  the  "Arbeiter-Zeitung."  The  National  Green- 
back Convention  which  met  in  Chicago  in  1880  caused  a  split  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Socialistic  Labor  Party.  There  were  some  who  believed 
in  supporting  the  Greenback  ticket,  and  there  were  a  great  many  more 
who  would  not  listen  to  any  kind  of  a  proposition  in  favor  of  a  com- 
promise. The  "Arbeiter-Zeitung,"  at  that  time  edited  by  Paul  Grott- 
kau,  took  the  position  of  the  latter.  Several  attempts  were  made  to 


26  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

re-unite  the  two  factions,  but  they  failed.  And  the  anti-compromise 
faction,  in  the  following  year,  called  a  National  congsess,  which  was 
held  in  Chicago  in  1881,  for  the  purpose  of  reorganization.  I  was  a 
delegate.  But  it  was  fully  two  years  later  when  at  another  congress, 
held  in  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  the  new  organization,  under  the  name  of  the 
International  Working  Peoples'  Association,  was  perfected.  Of  the 
latter  convention  I  was  secretary.  The  platform  adopted  was  based 
upon  the  economic  principles  of  socialism ;  36  cities  of  the  United 
States  were  represented  by  delegates,  while  from  an  equally  large 
number  of  places  communications  and  congratulations  were  received. 
The  work  of  the  congress  met  with  general  approval  and  the  new  or- 
ganization grew  very  rapidly.  And  with  this  growth  our  work  in- 
creased. It  was  nothing  unusual  for  me  to  address  3  or  4  meetings 
upon  different  subjects  in  a  week  and  attend  to  my  editorial  work  be- 
sides. How  have  I  been  able  to  work  that  way  for  many  years,  I  can 
hardly  understand  myself. 

The  editorial  staff  consisted  of  three  editors  and  four  reporters, 
sometimes  more.  Schwab,  one  of  the  editors,  and  myself  were  fre- 
quently requested  to  lecture  or  speak  in  other  cities, which  was  also  the 
case  with  Parsons  and  Fielden.  I  have  addressed  meetings  in  most 
of  the  large  cities  and  industrial  centres  in  the  country.  It  was  upon 
such  occasions  that  I  learned  of  the  extreme,  almost  incredible  poverty 
and  sufferings  of  the  hens  who  lay  the  golden  eggs  for  the  "great  men" 
of  the  nation.  Reader,  have  you  ever  visited  the  coalfields  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  Ohio  ?  lour  newspapers  have  told  you  a  great  deal  about 
the  misery  of  the  Belgian  miners.  They  might  have  told  you  more 
shocking  things  from  home.  Such  conditions  as  have  prevailed  and 
still  prevail  in  the  Hocking  and  Monongahela  Valleys  among  the  coal- 
miners  could  not  possibly  exist  in  Belgium,  France  or  Germany.  But 
the  publishers  of  our  large  newspapers  are  financially  interested,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  in  these  enterprises  and  hence  their  profound 
silence  upon  the  subject.  They  reason  much  in  the  same  way  as  the 
ostriches,  who,  when  pursued,  put  their  heads  into  the  sand,  in  order 
to  escape  detection.  These  patriotic  and  Christian  publishers  think 
that  by  observing  silence  upon  certain  subjects  the  latter  lose  their 
real  significance — escape  detection,  so  to  speak.  They  may  before  ihe 
elapse  of  very  many  revolutions  of  the  planet  that  they  have  usurped 
as  their  private  property  find  that  their  calculations  were  fundament- 
ally wrong.  Perhaps  though  they  reason  like  Madame  Pompadour — 
"apres  nous  le  deluge* /"- 


*  After  us  the  flood. 


AUTOBIOGEAPHICAL  SKETCH.  27 

It  was  during  the  great  strike  in  1884 ;  the  state  troops  of  Ohio  and 
several  hundred  professional  cutthroats,  euphemistically  styled  Pinker- 
ton  guards,  had  taken  possession  of  the  towns  and  mines,  and  treated 
the  starving  miners  very  much  like  prisoners  of  war — only  with  less 
consideration,  when  I  undertook  a  journey  through  the  Hocking- Valley 
to  learn  the  true  condition  of  affairs. 

In  Columbus,  Ohio,  I  happened  to  get  on  the  same  train  that  was 
taking  a  lot  of  Slovaks  and  hungarians  to  the  valley.  Several  Polish 
jews  who  had  procured  them  for  the  good  coal  syndicate  to  take  the 
places  of  the  strikers,  were  guarding  them — lest  they  might  escape — 
like  so  many  cattle.  They  were  not  exactly  chained  to  each  other  like 
convicts.  No,  that  would  have  been  un-American,  would  have  been 
in  violation  of  the  right  of  free  contract !  Nor  was  it  necessary  to 
chain  the  poor  wretches,  for.they  had  been  told  that  if  any  one  should 
attempt  to  escape,  he  would  be  shot  dead  on  the  spot.  And  to  give 
more  weight  to  this  threat  the  great  state  of  Ohio  had  volunteered  a 

detachment  of  militia When  I  tried  to  speak  to  one  of  the  poor 

devils,  one  of  the  jews  interfered,  and  when  I  told  the  scoundrel  that 
he  had  better  get  his  carcass  out  of  the  reach  of  my  boots,  he  called  a 
Pinkerton  man  who  gruffly  demanded  that  I  should  leave  the  car.  I 
summoned  the  conductor  but  could  get  no  satisfaction  from  him.  He 
was  sorry,  but  his  orders  were  such  that  he  dared  not  interfere.  It 
seems,  however,  that  while  this  dispute  was  going  on,  one  of  the 
traders  in  human  flesh  espied  my  "reporter's  star",  for  they  not  only 
apologized,  changing  their  attitude  suddenly,  but  called  one  of  the 
attorneys  of  the  syndicate  who  happened  to  be  on  the  train  and  intro- 
duced him  to  me.  He  was  very  glad  to  meet  a  newspaper  correspond- 
ent, who  was  about  to  "write  up"  matters  in  the  valley — "yes",  said 
he,  at  the  same  time  offering  me  a  cigar  from  his  etui,  "my  dear  sir, 
it  is  shameful,  most  shameful,  I  assure  you,  how  we  have  been  mis- 
represented in  the  press  of  the  country.  You  are  from  Chicago — I  am 
glad  of  that.  I  should  be  pleased  to  accompany  you  all  through  the 
valley  personally,  urgent  business,  however,  prevents  me — but  you  will 
stay  at  Mr.  Buchtel's  House — Mr.  Buchtel  is  the  superintendent  of  the 

company—  oh  yes,  he  will  be  only  to  glad  to  entertain  you Besides 

there  is  no  hotel  within  a  distance  of  about  40  miles.  Mr.  Buchtel 
will  give  you  all  the  particulars  of  this  affair,  and  more,  will  take  you 
all  around.  You  ride  horse  back,  of  course — he  has  a  lot  of  the  finest 
racing  horses  in  the  country." 

"Is  there  a  likely  hood  that  this  unfortunate  strike  will  be  settled 
upon  an  equitable  basis  ?"  said  I. 

"Strike?     Settled?"  said  he. 


28  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

"Well,  there  is  a  large  strike  in  the  valley — some  8000  or  more " 

"That  is"— interrupting  me  before  I  had  finished — "what  the 
newspapers  are  saying,  and  that  is  the  reason  why  I  desire  you  to  stop 

with  Mr.  Buchtel  and  inform  yourself  fully Thei  e  is  no  strike 

among  our  men ;  they  are  contented  and  happy  and  they  ought  to  be. 
We  always  paid  them  high  wages ;  and  they  are  quite  comfortably  sit- 
uated. There  are  a  few  agitators  among  them,  however,  who  have 
kicked  up  this  rumpus.  We'll  get  rid  of  them  though ;  most  of  them 
are  in  jail  now,  and  those  who  are  still  at  liberty  will  find  that  this  is 
a  very  unhealthy  country  for  them.  The  troops  and  Pinkerton's  will 

have  none  of  their  monkey-business .  .These  men  have  intimidated 

the  many  thousands  of  our  miners,  who  would  be  only  to  willing  to  re- 
turn to  work  this  minute — 

"Well"— said  I — "my  information  is  that  these  striking  coal-min- 
ers did  not  average  $15  a  month,  before  the  recent  reduction, — which 
is  given  as  the  cause  of  this  strike. — 

"Pshaw !  any  man  can  earn  from  $35  to  $50  a  month,  providing 
he  wants  to  work— 

"Then  you  are  not  going  to  restore  the  old  wages?" 

"Never !  it  is  not  so  much  a  question  of  money  with  us — no,  it  is 
a  question  of  principle  !  Let  it  cost  what  it  may,  we  are  going  to  es- 
tablish the  principle  that  we  are  to  say  what  price  shall  be  paid  for 
the  digging  of  coal,  and  if  there  is  any  law  in  this  country  we  will  suc- 
ceed   Digging  coal  with  these  fellows  (referring  to  the  emigrants) 

costs  us  3  times  as  much  as  we  used  to  pay  our  men,  but  we  can 

afford  this  where  a  vital  principle  is  at  stake But  here  is  Logan, 

where  I  have  to  get  off.  Joe !  (calling  one  of  the  Pinkerton's)  you 
take  my  friend,  Mr.  S —  to  Mr.  Buchtel's  house,  when  you  come  to 
Buchtel  (a  station.)  He  will  be  pleased  to  see  you  (addressing  him- 
self to  me)." 

"What  you  have  told  me  is  authentic,  is  it?"  I  asked  as  he  got 
up  to  leave — "I  may  use  it?" 

"Why,  of  course,  I  am  the  general  manager  of  the  company. 
Good  bye !" 

As  soon  as  he  was  gone  I  made  notes  of  what  he  had  said  and 
then  addressed  myself  once  more  to  one  of  the  emigrants.  He  did  not 
understand  me.  But  there  was  another  one  who  could  make  himself 
understood  in  German.  I  asked  him  if  he  and  his  companions  knew 
where  they  were  going  to.  He  did  not.  Did  he  know  that  they  were 
about  to  take  the  bread  away  from  their  equally  unfortunate  brothers  ? 
That  they  were  to  be  used  as  whips  upon  the  backs  of  their  struggling 
friends,  and  that  they  were  in  danger  of  their  lives  ?  Yes,  they  had 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  29 

been  told  so  in  a  boarding-house ;  and  when  upon  this  information 
they  had  refused  to  go  any  further,  the  soldiers  had  appeared,  and 
then  they  had  no  longer  hesitated.  Where  did  they  come  from  ?  From 
Pennsylvania.  Agents  (the  jews)  had  come  to  them  and  promised 
them  big  wages.  Had  they  paid  their  own  fare  ?  Yes ;  it  had  been 
deducted  from  their  last  pay  where  they  had  worked  before.*  What 
had  they  earned  ?  $18  a  month ;  they  had  paid  $16  for  board,  wash- 
ing, powder  and  oil. 

Tne  train  stopped.  It  was  midway  between  two  stations.  The 
"scabs"  were  hustled  out  in  less  than  2  minutes  and  taken  up  a  hill 
under  a  strong  escort.  "It  would'nt  be  safe — they'd  get  killed,  if  we 
took'm  off  at  the  station,"  was  Joe,  the  Pinkerton's,  reply  to  my  in- 
quiring look. 

There  was  one  other  station  this  side  of  Buchtel.  I  got  off  here 
to  get  rid  of  the  villain  who  was  to  accompany  me  to  Mr.  Buchtel's 
house.  I  told  him  that  I  would  be  there  by  evening. 

It  was  a  small,  dreary  and  dismal  looking  mining  town  at  which 
I  left  the  train,  and  appeared  in  sad  contrast  with  the  surrounding 
picturesque  country.  On  the  ridge  of  one  of  the  hills  which  are  cov- 
ered with  an  abundance  of  green  trees  and,  surrounded  by  which  the 
narrow  dale  would  seem  an  idyl,  were  it  not  for  the  wretched  looking 
shanties  that  lie  scattered  along  the  slopes  on  both  sides  of  the  swift- 
ly flowing  brook, — a  serious  fight  among  a  lot  of  drunken  Pinkerton's 
had  taken  place  2  days  before,  during  which  two  of  the  combattants 
were  killed  and  several  wounded.  The  fight  had  originated  over  "the 
possession  of  several  prostitutes,  who — as  it  appeared — had  been  im- 
ported by  the  generous  coal-syndicate  for  the  special  accomodation  of 
their  protectors  of  "law  and  order."  This  may  seem  incredible  to 
you,  reader ;  yet,  prior  to  this,  nobody  in  this  penurious  valley  had 
ever  seen  or  heard  of  a  prostitute.  Still  it  is  not  unlikely,  that  the 
Pinkerton  gentlemen  had  brought  them  along,  thinking  perhaps,  that 
pimping  (their  business  in  the  city)  in  the  country  might  be  a  profit- 
able pastime.  Albeit,  the  report  was  given  out  that  two  gentlemen  of 
Pinkerton's  standing  army  had  been  surprised  and  killed  by  strikers, 
while  on  guard ;  and  this,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  their  wounds 
showed  to  have  been  made  by  bullets  from  Winchester  rifles  (Pinker- 
ton's  fire  arms.)  And  upon  the  strength  of  this  report  the  syndicate 
demanded  an  increase  of  the  military  force  !  which,  I  may  add,  was 
duly  granted. 


*  This  shows  that  there  is  a  tacit  understanding  between  the  coal  barons  in 
matters  of  this  kind. 


30  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

The  town  was  filled  with  newly  arrived  militia,  and  martial  law 
had  been  proclaimed.  The  people  were  to  be  chastised,  were  they, 
because  they  had  tolerated  the  Pinkertons  to  kill  each  other —  ?  Well, 
the  place  is  almost  the  centre  of  the  coal  region ;  the  troops  could  eas- 
ily be  sent  anywhere 

I  called  at  the  camp ;  "the  boys"  fared  most  sumptuously.  The 
company  furnished  cheerfully  whatever  was  wanted.  From  here  I 
made  my  way  over  one  of  the  hills  in  the  direction  of  Buchtel.  A  most 
unfortunate  circumstance  was,  that  I  wore  a  blue  suit ;  thus  some 
persons  possessing  no  knowledge  of  physiognomy  whatever,  took 
me  to  be  a  "Pinkerton."  A  girl  of  about  fourteen  or  fifteen  was 
searching  for  berries,  as  I  made  my  way  up  the  steep  hill  (there  was 
no  regular  road,  but  a  labyrinth  of  footpaths.)  At  sight  of  me  she 
screamed  and  turned  to  run  away.  "I'll  not  hurt  you,  my  good  girl ; 
tell  me,  please,  whether  I  am  on  the  right  way  to  Buchtel !"  cried  I. 
She  seemed  to  be  meditating  whether  it  was  better  to  stop  or  to  run 
away  and  be  shot;  for  she  had  concluded  that  I  was  a  "Pinkerton." 
She  stopped,  the  poor  wretched  thing,  but  was  so  confused  that  she 
was  quite  unable  to  utter  a  word  or  answer  my  questions  at  first.  She 
was  barefoot  and  scantily  dressed,  but  neat  and  quite  comely. 

I  assured  her  once  more  that  I  was  not  going  to  hurt  her.  I  in- 
quired where  she  lived.  ''Over  there,"  she  said,  pointing  to  a  shanty 
about  £  mile  off.  "Could  I  get  a  glass  of  milk  at  her  ma's?"  I  in- 
quired. "No,  the  sheriff  has  taken  our  cow  from  us,  and  I  am  afraid 
Pa  would  not  like  you  to  come  to  the  house ;  he  does'nt  like  the — the 
— the  Mister  Pinkerton — " 

"But,  darling,  I  am  not  a  Pinkerton",  I  retorted. 

"No?  Are  you  really  not?  I  thought  you  was,  and  I  got  so 
scared.  I  wanted  to  pick  some  berries  for  my  little  brother ;  he  is  sick 
and— and" — the  tears  rolled  down  her  cheeks  and  she  began  to  sob. 

"You  didn't  find  any  berries — there  are  none  here — why  do  you 
cry?" 

"No,  there  were  berries,  but  everybody  is  after  them " 

I  did  not  quite  understand  why  the  poor  thing  was  so  distressed 
about  the  berries.  She  went  along  with  me  to  her  home  and  asked  me 
if  I  would  not  let  her  carry  my  little  satchel — 

"Why  do  you  want  to  carry  it  ?" 

"You'll  not  be  angry,  will  you — you  talk  so  kindly  to  me — you  are 
rich,  are  you  not.  I  should  be  so  happy — I'll  carry  the  satchel  all 
away  to  Buchtel  for  you — if — if  you  will  give  me  25  cts. — or  if  that  is 
too  much — 10  cts." 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  31 

"Why,  do  you  like  money  so  much — I  will  give  you  that  if  you  get 
me  a  good  drink  of  water." 

Meantime  we  had  reached  her  home.  Two  men  were  sitting  in 
the  door,  evidently  lost  in  sad  reflections.  I  told  them  where  I  was 
going,  and  that  they  would  oblige  me  with  a  glass  of  water.  They 
were  Scotchmen,  quite  intelligent  and  courteous.  They  gave  me  the 
details  in  connection  with  the  killing  of  the  two  Pinterton's  and  such 
other  information  as  I  asked  for.  And  when  I  told  them  who  I  was 
they  became  very  communicative.  They  had  both  worked  for  many 
years  in  the  mines ;  but  for  the  two  last  years  had  not  been  able  to 
make  a  bare  living;  some  years  ago  they  had  bought  the  shanty, 
otherwise  they  would  have  been  ejected  like  most  of  the  striking 
miners  who  were  now  camping  out.  I  asked  them  if  they  could  not 
prepare  a  little  lunch  for  me.  I  was  quite  hungry,  and  gave  the  girl 
who  was  anxiously  watching  me,  lest  I  might  forget  my  promise,  a 
50  cts.  piece.  They  all  seemed  very  uneasy  in  consequence  of  my  re- 
quest, retired  and  held — as  it  appeared  to  me — a  conference.  After 
a  little  while  the  wife  of  the  one  came  back  with  tears  in  her  eyes  and 
said :  Mister,  we  haven't  got  a  morsel  of  bread,  nor  anything  else  to 
eat  in  the  house ;  we  havn't  had  anything  to  eat,  outside  of  a  few 
apples,  since  yesterday  morning.  My  husband  went  to  town  this  morn- 
ing to  get  some  flour  from  the  relief-committee  of  the  strikers,  but 
didn't  get  any ;  the  railroad  company  delays  all  freight  of  that  kind, 
as  we  have  found  out — sometimes  a  week,  sometimes  longer.  The  men 
folks  are  ashamed  to  tell  you  that  we  have  nothing  to  eat,  that  our  little 
one  is  sick  from  want  of  good  nourishment." 

Was  it  possible  ?  I  could  hardly  believe  it !  But  the  conduct  of 
the  girl — her  distress —  her  singular  request  for  money  !  Yes,  it  was 
true ! — 

I  went  away,  and  soon  after  crossing  the  ridge  could  see  Buchtel, 
that  is  a  row  of  shanties  extenting  over  two  miles  in  length. 

"Halloh  !     Some  more  coming,  are  ye  ?" 

It  was  an  old  Irishman,  and  a  very  bright  one,  as  I  soon  had  occa- 
sion to  learn,  who  accosted  me  in  this  way. 

"Why  don't  yes  kill  the  people  owtroite  insteed  of  starving  thim  to 
death — ?"  continued  the  old  fellow  before  I  had  yet  said  anything  in 
reply  to  his  first  somewhat  mysterious  remark.  He,  too,  had  taken  me 
for  a  "Pinkerton",  but  now  looked  at  me  rather  dubiously. 

"Must  every  man  in  a  blue  coat  necessarily  be  a  Pinkerton?" 
was  my  jocular  reply. 

The  old  fellow  was  very  happy  when  he  found  that  he  had  been 


32  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

mistaken  and  became  quite  enthusiastic  when  I  told  him  for  what 
purpose  I  had  come. 

"I  am  glad,  sir" — said  he — "I  have  met  you.  I  came  up  here  this 
afternoon  to  look  for  a  good  place  to  camp  me  wife  and  children ;  the 
large  trees  here  give  some  protection  at  any  rate.  There  was  consid- 
erable excoitment  in  the  town  this  mornin' ;  over  75  families  were 
driven  out  of  the  bloodsucking  companys'  houses.  They  all  have  to 
camp  out  now.  When  the  governor  was  here  the  other  day,  telling  us 
to  keep  the  law  and  peace,  he  promised  to  send  us  a  lot  of  military 
tents  in  case  we  should  be  evicted.  Now,  that  we  have  telegraphed 

him  for  them,  he  flatly  refuses  'm There  are  some  sick  people 

who  have  found  shelter  with  such  of  the  miners  as  have  their  own 
houses.  The  Pinkerton's  have  blockaded  the  streets,  and  they  have 
told  the  town-marshall  who  is  opposed  to  this,  that  they  would  arrest 
him  and  take  him  down  to  Logan  if  he  dared  in  any  way  interfere 
with  them.  There  is  no  law  here,  not  a  bit  of  it! — these  loafing, 
drunken  cut-throats  get  all  the  foine  things  they  want,  they  live  like 
lords — to  be  sure  they  do :  see  them  sitting  at  their  tables,  all  filled 
with  the  delicatest  eatables,  and  cigars  and  whiskey  and  everything, 
and  holding  them  up  to  our  hungry  children,  and  then  laughing  at 
them—" 

The  old  man  continued  in  this  strain,  besides  answering  all  the 
questions  that  I  asked  him,  until  we  reached  the  first  shanties ;  they 
were  packed  full  of  haggard  and  careworn  women  and  children. 

"Some  of  the  families" — remarked  my  companion — "have  clubbed 
together ;  the  wives  and  children  sleep  in  the  houses,  and  the  men 
sleep  outside." 

"Well,"  said  I,  "these — what  you  call  houses  have  only  one  room ; 
not  very  many,  not  more  than  one  family,  I  should  say,  could  possib- 
le have  room  in  them  !>1 

"And  so  you  say — I  can  take  you  around  and  show  you  that  there 
is  not  one  private  house  (those  that  do  not  belong  to  the  company)  but 
what  has  3,  4  and  more  families  living  in  them,  and  that's  a  fact" — 
was  the  old  fellows  reply. 

He  had  soon  gathered  a  number  of  men  around  him  whom  he  ap- 
prised of  my  arrival,  instructing  them  at  the  same  time  to  make  the 
fact  known  and  have  every  miner  come  to  a  certain  place  at  7  o'clock 
in  the  evening,  where  a  meeting  would  be  held. 

At  the  appointed  hour  in  the  evening  about  500  miners  assembled 
in  small  groups,  and  about  80  Pinkerton's  with  their  rifles.  No  one 
dared  call  the  strikers  together  but  as  soon  as  I  jumped  upon  an  old 
cart  and  told  them  to  follow  me  in  the  public  street,  where  we  would 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  33 

hold  our  meeting  in  spite  of  the  blockade  the  Pinkerton's  had  erected, 
they  became  quite  enthusiastic  and  followed  me  to  the  last  man,  the 
Pinkertons  included.  My  speech  consisted  in  the  reading  of  the  notes 
of  my  conversation  with  the  general  manager  of  the  syndicate  in  the 
morning.  I  did  not  add  anything ;  I  simply  read  what  the  gentleman 
had  told  me. 

And  I  have  never  in  my  life  made  a  more  "inflammatory  speech" 
than  this  one ! 

The  meeting  had  increased  in  the  meantime,  the  entire  town  be- 
ing present.  All  these  could  not  possibly  be  "agitators  !" 

But  why  should  the  "contented  workingmcn"  feel  so  indignant  over 
what  the  gentleman  had  said,  and  why  should  they  grow  so  excited  ? — 
Singular ! 

As  I  gave  them  the  different  points  their  master  had  made,  ad 
seriatim,  they  retorted : 

"35  to  50  dollars  a  month !  oh,  the  rascal !  We  haven't  averaged 
$15.00— take  off  from  this  $2.00  for  powder  and  oil  and  $5.00  for  rent; 

that  leaves  $8.00  for  a  family  to  live  upon  and  buy  clothes  with 

Let  him  come  here  and  tell  us  that  to  our  faces and  let  him  ex- 
plain why  he  broke  the  agreement  he  made  with  us  last  spring — did 

he  think  that  $8  a  month  was  too  much  for  a  family  to  live  on? 

If  we  had  accepted  the  last  reduction  we  would  not  be  able  to  make 
112.00,  i.  e.  expenses  taken  off,  $5.00  a  month " 

These  exclamations  were  unanimous.  A  roar  of  spontaneous 
laughter,  that  shook  the  very  earth,  went  up  from  the  gathering  when 
I  repeated  their  masters  story  of  how  comfortably  they  were  situated, 
and  how  kindly  they  were  cared  for ;  how  happy  they  were  and  how 
willing  to  return  to  work, — if  only  the  "discord  breeding  agitators" 
were  put  out  of  the  way. 

"Yes,"  remarked  an  old  and  energetic  looking  American,  "they 
want  to  crush  out  of  us  the  last  bit  of  manhood.  They  expect  to  do 
that  by  sending  such  as  have  a  little  courage  and  notion  of  independ- 
ence left  in  them  to  the  jail  and  penetentiary — to  frighten  the  other 
fellows.  When  a  man  is  not  agoing  to  be  kicked  around  like  a  dog, 
they  put  him  down  for  an  agitator !" 

This  remark,  calmly  made,  called  forth  a  tremendous  applause. 

Somebody  cried  out :  "Let's  chase  the  Pinkerton  pimps  out  of  town !" 

-"Yes,  they  knocked  a  woman  down  up  on  the  hill  this  afternoon  and 

kicked  her,  the !"  cried  another.  "They're  here  agin  the  law! 

and  that's  a  fact !"  philosophically  joined  in  my  old  friend.  There 
was  general  commotion,  the  Pinkertons  drew  back  out  of  the  crowd. . . 
"Are  you  mad?"  I  inquired — "Cant  you  see  that  these  men  are  armed 


34  AUTOBIOGKAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

with  the  best  Winchester  repeating  rifles  ?  That  they  can  annihilate 
you  in  a  few  minutes  ?  Your  constitutional  rights  and  laws  are  ri- 
diculously inadequate  weapons  when  confronted  with  the  16  shooter 
of  a  law-breaker " 

At  this  juncture  a  Pinkerton  ruffian  hurled  a  large  stone  at  me 

which  barely  missed  my  head The  situation  was  most  critical. 

Another  moment  and  the  crowd  would  have  rushed  upon  the  assail- 
ants, who  were  eagerly  waiting  for  any  kind  of  a  pretense  to  fire.  But 
my  self-possession  and  my  cautious  words  were  not  without  effect.  I 
continued  to  speak,  and,  changing  my  subject,  showed  the  causes  that 
brought  about  such  conditions  of  things.  They  became  quiet  and  list- 
ened attentively  until  adjournment,  notwithstanding  the  boisterous 
howling  and  provocations  of  the  drunken  Pinkerton's. 

I  note  this  incident,  reader,  to  show  you  that  it  was  not  socialism 
that  inflamed  these  men,  for  when  I  spoke  of  socialism  to  them,  they 
became  quiet  and  calm  and  interested  ;  it  were  the  words  of  the  capi- 
talist, their  master — it  was  the  teaching  of  capitalism  that  incited  them 
almost  to  madness ! 

Socialism  has  nothing  in  it  that  incites  to  violence  and  bloodshed ; 
these  qualities  are  only  peculiar  to  the  doctrines  of  capitalism,  doc- 
trines based  upon  and  maintained  by  force. 

Who  then,  I  ask  you,  are  the  incendiaries  ?  ! 

After  the  meeting  the  lieutenant  of  the  Pinkerton's  informed  me 
that  I  "must  leave  the  valley  without  delay;  they  had  no  use  there 
for  such  men."  While  assenting  to  the  last  portion  of  his  speech,  I 
told  him  that  I  should  stay  as  long  as  I  desired. 

The  miners  wanted  me  to  stay  a  few  days,  so  that  they  might  ar- 
range a  large  meeting  of  all  the  strikers  in  the  vicinity,  but  I  could 
not  remain  away  from  my  duties  in  Chicago  so  long,  and  therefore 
declined.  They  then  took  me  all  over  the  town  and  showed  me  the  al- 
most indescribable  poverty 'under  which  they  lived.  They  received 
some  flour  once  a  week,  enough  to  last  them  for  2  or  3  meals,  from 
the  relief  committee  (i.  e.  outside  assistance) ;  the  rest  of  the  week 
they  lived  from  a  few  apples,  berries,  and  some  had  potatoes.  When 
I  asked  if  there  was  no  place,  where  I  might  get  a  little  lunch,  a  large 
tall  man  began  to  cry,  the  tears  rolling  down  his  cheeks.  "We  have 
been  to  the  depot  twice  to-day,  surely  expecting  that  our  provisions 

had  arrived but  I  guess  the  Eailroad  Company,  which  is  also  the 

coal  syndicate,  have  taken  them,  as  they  generally  do,  to  another  sta- 
tion, where  they  leave  them  until  they  are  about  spoiled — and  then 
they  bring  them  here  und  say  it  was  done  by  mistake  ...  I  sold  some 
tools  this  afternoon  to  get  a  little  flour  from  the  company's  store,  but 


AUTOBIOGKAPHICAL  SKETCH.  35 

they  wouldn't  let  me  have  any — said  they  hadn't  any  for  the  d — strik- 
ers ;  then  I  got  some  crackers  for  my  children — I  have  six  of  them. 
But  my  wife  and  I  haven't  tasted  a  piece  of  bread  for  3  days." 

It  was  thus  everywhere.  I  distributed  the  few  dollars  I  had  with 
me  among  the  children,  who  looked  at  me  dubiously  as  though  they 
could  not  come  to  any  satisfactory  conclusion  as  to  whether  this  was 
real  or  a  delusion. 

A  half  dozen  Pinkerton's  followed  me  all  this  time,  step  for  step. 
I  slept  under  a  tree  that  night,  having  first  declined  the  kind  offers  of 
some,to  sleep  in  "their  house  !" 

During  that  night  a  number  of  Polish  "scabs"  who  had  worked  in 
the  mines  about  a  week,  and  who  were  kept  like  prisoners,  tried  to  es- 
cape— they  were  fired  upon  by  the  Pinkerton's.  Two  were  killed  and 
a  number  wounded, — that  the  "right  of  free  contract"  might  live  ! 

I  left  the  following  day.  I  had  seen  enough.  The  syndicate  car- 
ried their  point  a  few  months  later,  established  "their  principle"  and 
demonstrated  to  an  astounded  world — "that  there  was  law  in  this  country!" 


The  Eight  Hour  Movement  and  the  Police  Riot  on 
the  Haymarket. 


"  The  Eight  Hour  Question"  is  not  a  new  one.  More  than  20 
years  ago  a  reduction  of  the  hours  of  labor  from  10  to  8  was  demanded 
by  a  number  of  Trades-Organizations.  The  principal  reason  advanc- 
ed in  support  of  the  demand  was  that  the  introduction  of  labor-saving 
machinery  necessitated  such  a  reduction,  as  it  would  otherwise  result 
in  throwing  large  bodies  of  industrious  workers  out  of  employment 
etc ....  Wendell  Phillips  among  others  was  an  enthusiastic  advocate  of 
the  eight  hour  reform.  Had  the  capitalists  at  that  time  granted  the  de- 
mand, then  the  economic  development  would  have  assumed  a  peace- 
able character  in  this  country,  I  think,  and  most  of  the  strikes  which 
have  occurred  since  then  might  have  been  avoided.  Many  thousands 
of  the  inmates  of  Penitentiaries,  Work-houses  and  Insane  Asylums 
might  be  good  and  happy  citizens  to-day.  Many  thousands  of  our 
sisters  who  are  lingering  on  the  torture-rack  of  prostitution  might  be 
virtuous  wives  and  happy  mothers  to-day But  all  this  is  senti- 
mental trash  !  Our  "good  citizens  "  pay  their  monthly  dues  regularly 
to  the  various  "  Mudfog  Associations  for  the  Advancement  of  Every- 
thing— '  to 'the  "Temperance  League,"  to  ,,  the  Mission,  "  to  the 


36  AUTOBIOGKAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

"Ethical  Society,"  to  the  "  Church,"  to  the  "  Charitable  Institutions," 
"  Patriots  League  '  etc. — can  you  expect  more  from  them  ?  They  pro- 
vide "homes"'  for  those  whom  they  have  made  homeless,  they  provide 
with  spiritual  comfort  those  whom  they  have  made  wretched,  whose 

happiness  they  have  destroyed on  the  other  hand  "  business  is 

business !" 

You  can  make  more  money  out  of  a  person  in  ten  than  in  eight 
hours  ;  that  is  conclusive. — 

The  history  of  the  eight  hour  movement  is  well  known.  I  need 
not  go  over  it.  A  number  of  state  legislatures  (including  that  of  Illi- 
nois), as  well  as  congress,  have  years  ago  passed  laws  making  eight 
hours  a  legal  workday.  The  employers  of  labor  had  no  use  for  such 
laws,  and  they  remained  a  dead  letter.  In  the  fall  of  '84  the  "  Federa- 
tion of  Trades  and  Labor  Unions  of  the  United  States  and  Canada" 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the  eight  hour  reform  would  never  be- 
come a  reality,  unless  those  mostly  interested,  the  workers,  introduced 
it  themselves.  A  day  was  set  for  a  general  strike,  but  later  it  was 
thought  best  to  postpone  the  attempt  for  another  year,  the  first  of 
May  '86  being  fixed  as  the  day  upon  which  the  new  system  should  be 
inaugurated.  It  was  thought  that  the  employers  would  offer  no  serious 
opposition  to  this  reform  ;  it  being  evident  that  thing  s  could  not  go  on 
any  longer  in  the  old  way  without  disastrous  results.  I  did  not  share 
this  optimistic  view.  And  because  I  wasn't  as  short-sighted  as  the 
so-called  conservative  trades-unionists,  the  latter  accused  me  of  being 
opposed  to  reforms.  I  will  quote  here  what  I  said  in  reply  to  these 
charges(*) : — 

"  A  man,  whose  name  is  Edmonston,  and  whom  the  irony 

of  fate  has  awarded  the  office  of  a  secretary  in  a  national  labor  orga- 
nization, has  written  a  reply  to  some  remarks  which  appeared  in  the 
"Alarm"  in  connection  with  the  eight  hour  proclamation.  He  is 
evidently  one  of  those  fellows  who  think  because  "God  gave  them  an 
office  he  also  furnished  them  with  sense."  Instead  of  showing  our 
position  in  regard  to  the  eight  hour  question  to  be  untenable  he  throws 
a  lot  of  vile  epithets  at  the  Anarchists  whom  he  looks  upon  in  his 
stupidity  as  men  with  "disordered  brains."  The  simpleton  knows  ! 
about  as  much  on  the  subject  of  economics  as  the  average  ass  knows 
about  Homerian  poetry. 

"We  do' not  antagonize  the  eight  hour  movement, — viewing  it 
from  the  standpoint  that  it  is  a  social  struggle ;  we  simply  predict  that 


(*)This  article  which  was  written  in  reply  to  a  letter  of  Mr.  Edmonston,  the 
secretary  of  the  "Federation  of  Trades  and  Labor  Unions,  appeared  in  the 
"Alarm"  on  Sept.  5th,  '85,  and  clearly  defines  my  position. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  37 

it  is  a  lost  battle ;  and  we  prove  that  even  though  the  eight  hour  sys- 
tem should  be  established  at  this  late  day,  the  wage-workers  would 
gain  nothing.  They  would  still  remain  the  slaves  of  their  masters. 

"Supposing  the  hours  of  labor  should  be  shortened  to  eight,  our 
productive  capacity  would  thereby  not  be  diminished.  The  shorten- 
ing of  the  hours  of  labor  in  England  was  immediately  followed  by  a 
general  increase  of  labor-saving  machines,  with  a  subsequent  dis- 
charge of  a  proportionate  number  of  employes.  The  reverse  of  what 
had  been  sought  took  place.  The  exploitation  of  those  at  work  was 
intensified.  They  now  performed  more  labor,  produced  more  than  be- 
fore. 

"  Now,  for  a  man  who  desires  to  remain  a  wage-slave  the  intro- 
duction of  every  new  improvement  and  machine  is  a  threatening 
competitor.  The  anorganic  machine  works  cheaper  than  the  organic 
being !  Mr.  Edmonston  views  wage-slavery  as  the  very  corner  stone  of 
civilization,  Hence,  to  be  consistent,  he  ought  to  be  opposed  to  the 

reduction  of  the  hours  of  labor His  position  is,  it  seems,  that 

eight  hours  would  give  work  to  the  unemployed,  and  save  us  from 
overproduction.  This,  however,  will  not  be  the  case.  If  the  strike 
should  turn  out  successful  the  eight  hour  system  would  result  in  the 
extermination  of  every  small  manufacturer  and  small  shopman.  They 
and  those  whom  they  now  employ  would  be  thrown  in  the  labor  market. 
Production  would  increase  through  larger  establishments,  greater 
subdivision  of  labor  etc.,  while  the  consuming  power  of  the  working- 
class  would — if  not  decrease,  remain  as  it  is. 

"What  E.  calls  "overproduction"  would  still  remain.  For  this 
anomaly  will  remain  just  so  long  as  the  propertied  class  have  the 
privilege  to  distribute  the  worlds  good  as  they  choose. 

"But,"  interjects  Mr.  E.,  "Capital  was,  and  rightfully  is,  but  the 
servant  of  labor,  and  when  it  assumes  to  be  more,  it  oversteps  its 
bounds,  and  becomes  a  trespasser,  liable  to  correction." 

"How  naive  ! — We  should  think  that  capital  was  "overstepping  its 
bounds,"  when  it  refuses  to  be  the  servant  of  more  than  2,000,000 
men  and  probably  as  many  women  in  this  country.  These  people  are 
starving,  many  have  starved— why,  Mr.  E.,  don't  you  correct  the  tres- 
passer ?  We  would  like  to  see  you  do  it ! 

"If  you  say  "capital  is  the  servant  of  labor,"  you  lie  !  It  is  the 
servant  of  its  possessor.  Does  labor  possess  capital?  No.  The  fellows 
with  the  "disordered  brain"  would  make  labor  the  possessor  of  capi- 
tal. But  this  you  don't  want,  yet  you  say  "capital  ought  rightfully  be 

the  servant  of  labor "  Don't  you  think  you  are  somewhat   of  a 

fool? 


38  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

"Now  in  regard  to  the  8  hour  strike  next  spring,  a  few  practical 
words  to  our  friends.  The  number  of  organized  wage- workers  in  this 
country  may  be  about  *800,000,  the  number  of  unemployed  about  2 
millions.  Will  the  Manufacturing  Kings  grant  your  modest  request 
under  such  circumstances  ?  No  sir !  the  small  ones  cannot,  and  the 
big  ones  will  not.  They  will  fill  your  places  by  drawing  from  the  army 
of  the  unemployed You  will  interfere Then  comes  the  po- 
lice and  militia " 

Having  exactly  foretold  what  has  since  taken  place,  our  persecu- 
tors tried  to  make  the  public  believe  that  we  had  "conspired  to  do 
these  things,"  "to  start  a  revolution  on  or  about  the  first  of  May,"  to 
overturn  the  government  of  the  United  States  and  establish  anarchy 
in  its  place — conspired  to  carry  out  this  tidy  little  job  with  one  bomb, 
to  be  thrown  "at  some  intersection  of  a  street !" 

This  reminds  one  of  a  plot  in  an  opera  bouffet.  Yes,  Jacques 
Offenbach*  *  has  "been  knocked  out"  by  Grinnell.  He  would  admit 
his  defeat  at  the  hands  of  the  State's  prosecutor  in  Chicago,  if  he 
were  living. — 

The  Central  Labor  Union,  the  central  body  of  the  German  trades 
unions,  started  the  ball  in  Chicago.  Large  mass-  meetings  in  the  va- 
rious parts  of  the  city  were  held,  in  which  t'he  eight  hour  question  was 
agitated.  The  old  unions  soon  doubled  and  tripled  their  membership, 
while  at  the  same  time  new  unions  were  organized  by  the  dozen. 
Everyone  was  active  and  the  movement  soon  bore  a  promising  aspect. 
The  Trade  and  Labor  Assembly  and  the  Knights  of  Labor  agitated 
the  question  independently  in  their  own  way  and  among  the  trades 
represented  in  their  bodies.  The  Powderly  manifesto,  setting  forth 
that  the  country  (meaning  the  capitalists)  was  not  yet  ready  to  adopt 
the  eight  hour  plan,  had  little  effect  upon  the  Knights  in  Chicago ; 
they  knew  that  the  capitalists  would  never  be  ready  for  either  this  or 
any  other  reform,  unless,  of  course,  there  was  money  in  it  for  them. 

Some  of  the  unions  represented  in  the  Central  Labor  Union — 
first  of  all  the  Bakers,  Brewers,  aud  Butchers  Unions — demanded  a 
reduction  of  their  hours  of  labor  from  14  and  16  to  10  and  carried  their 
points,  some  weeks  before  the  first  of  May.  These  victories  gave  an- 
other impetus  to  the  movement  and  filled  the  hearts  of  the  eight  hour 
soldiers  with  encouragement  and  hope.  The  "Arbeiter-Zeitung'' 
championed  the  cause  most  vigorously  and  to  its  influence  the  success 
which  the  different  unions  had  achieved,  was  largely  due.  Most  of 


*  Thrice  that  number  now. 

*  *  The  author  and  composer  of  most  of  the  comic  operettes. 


AUTOBIO GRAPHICAL  SKETCH.  39 

the  speakers  of  the  "Internationalists"  were  out  addressing  meetings 
and  organizing  unions  every  night.  Some  of  these  unions  joined  the 
Knights  of  Labor,  others  the  Central  Labor  Union.  No  one  worked 
harder  than  the  much  abused  anarchists,  and  they  did  so  with  no  oth- 
er object  in  view  than  to  make  the  movement  a  success.  The  eight 
hour  demonstration  of  the  Central  Labor  Union  on  the  Sunday  pre- 
ceeding  the  first  of  May  bore  evidence  of  the  extent  of  their  agitation. 
A  German  Doctor  of  Geology,  a  friend  of  mine,  who  had  just  arrived 
from  London  on  a  scientific  mission,  said  to  me  that  he  had  never 
seen  such  an  immense  and  imposing  procession  as  this,  either  in  Paris 
or  London,  or  Berlin,  or  Vienna,  and  he  had  seen  a  good  many.  There 
were  at  least  25,000  persons  on  Lake  Front  where  the  procession 
terminated  and  where  Parson,  Fielden,  Schwab  and  I  addressed  the 
participants. 

Then  came  the  first  of  May.  The  eyes  of  the  country  were  upon 
Chicago.  Here,  everybody  knew,  the  decisive  battle  would  be  fought. 
Defeat  in  Chicago  meant  defeat  all  over  the  country.  But  to  afford 
the  reader  a  more  comprehensive  view  of  the  general  feeling  among 
the  40,000  wage-workers  who  had  laid  down  their  tools  to  give  weight 
and  emphasis  to  their  demand — of  their  hopes  and  fears,  of  their  de- 
termination and  courage,  I  will  quote  from  an  article  I  wrote  on  that 
day:— 

"The  dies  are  cast !  The  first  of  May,  whose  historical  significance 
will  be  understood  and  appreciated  only  in  later  years,  is  here.  For 
20  years  the  working-people  of  the  United  States  have  whined  and 
have  begged  their  extortionists  and  legislators  to  introduce  the  eight 
hour  system.  The  latter  knew  how  to  put  the  modest  beggar  off,  and 
thus  year  after  year  passed  by.  At  last,  two  years  ago  a  number  of 
trades-organizations  took  the  matter  up  and  resolved  that  the  eight 
hour  workday  should  be  established  on  May  1,  1886. 

"That,  is  a  sensible  demand" — said  the  press,  howled  the  pro- 
fessional imposters,  yelled  the  extortionists."  The  impudent  socialists, 
who  wanted  everything  and  who  would  not  content  themselves  with 
rational  demands  of  this  kind,  were  treated  to  the  customary  shower 
of  epithets. 

"Thus  things  went  on.  The  agitation  progressed  and  everybody 
was  in  favor  of  the  shortening  of  the  workday.  With  the  approach  of 
the  day,  however,  on  which  the  plan  was  at  last  to  be  realized,  a  sus- 
picious change  in  the  tone  of  the  extortionists  and  their  priest-craft 
on  the  press  became  more  and  more  noticeable What  had  for- 
merly in  theory  been  modest  and  rational,  was  now  impudent  and 
senseless.  What  had  formerly  been  lauded  as  a  praiseworthy  demand 


40  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

when  compared  with  socialism  and  anarchism,  changed  now  suddenly 
into  "criminal  anarchism"  itself.  The  cloven  foot  of  the  hellish  crew, 
panting  for  spoils,  became  visible.  They  had  intonated  the  eight  hour 
hymn  simply  to  lull  their  dupes,  workingmen,  to  sleep,  and  thus  keep 
them  away  from  socialism. 

"That  the  workingmen  would  proceed  in  all  earnestness  to  intro- 
duce the  eight  hour  system,  was  never  anticipated  by  these  confidence 
men ;  that  the  workingmen  would  develop  such  a  stupendeous  power, 
this,  they  never  dreamed  of.  In  short,  to-day,  when  an  attempt  is 
made  to  realize  a  reform  so  long  striven  for ;  when  the  extortionists 
are  reminded  of  their  promises  and  pledges  of  the  past,  one  has  this 
and  the  other  has  that  to  give  as  an  excuse.  The  workers  should 
only  be  contented  and  confide  in  their  well-meaning  exploiters,  and 
some  time  between  now  and  doomsday,  everything  would  be  satisfac- 
torily arranged. — 

"Workingmen,  we  caution  you  !  "You  have  been  deluded  time  and 
time  again.  You  must  not  be  led  astray  this  time. 

"Judging  from  present  appearances,  events  may  not  take  a  very 
smooth  course.  Many  of  the  extortionists,  aye,  most  of  them,  are 
resolved  to  starve  those  to  "reason"  who  refuse  to  submit  to  their 
arbitrary  dictates,  i.  e.  to  force  them  back  into  their  yoke  by  hunger. 
The  question  now  arises — will  the  workmen  allow  themselves  to  be 
slowly  starved  into  submission,  or  will  they  inoculate  some  modern 
ideas  into  their  would-be  murderers  heads." (Arbeiter  Zeitung.) 

On  Monday,  MaySrd,  the  strike  became  general.  The  "Arb.  Ztg." 
of  this  day  gives  a  complete  review  of  the  local  movement,  which  is 
mofet  interesting ;  it  also  bears  evidence  of  the  intense  excitement  that 
existed.  Several  large  processions  were  held,  among  which  that  of 
about  500  brave  tailor-girls  who  marched  through  the  principal  part 
of  the  city  was  the  most  noteworthy.  This  novel  procession  was  per- 
fectly orderly ;  nevertheless,  several  assaults  were  made  upon  it  by  the 
police.  A  general  strike  of  the  freight-handlers  on  the  Northwestern 
Koad  broke  out  which  thickened  the  cloud  that  hung  ominously  over 
the  city. 

I  was  invited  by  the  Central  Labor  Union  to  address  a  mass-meet- 
ing of  striking  Lumber-iShovers  in  the  afternoon  on  22.  St.  and  Blue 
Island  Ave.  I  did  not  intend  to  go  to  the  meeting.  I  was  completely 
exhausted  from  the  exertions  of  the  last  few  days.  But  a  committee 
called  on  me  and  insisted  that  I  must  come  along.  It  .was  an  immense 
gathering,  fully  10,000  persons  must  have  been  present.  Several  short 
speeches  had  already  been  made  when  I  arrived.  When  the  chairman 
introduced  me,  some  men  in  the  audience  cried  out :  He  is  a  socialist ; 


AUTOBIOGKAPHICAL  SKETCH.  41 

we  don't  want  any  socialistic  speeches  !  But  as  soon  as  I  began  to 
speak,  all  became  quiet  and  silent.  I  spoke  with  unusual  calmness 
and  moderation.  The  essence  of  my  remarks  was,  that  they,  the 
strikers,  should  stand  firmly  together  and  they  then  would  carry  the 
day.  The  effect  of  my  speech  may  best  be  judged  by  the  fact  that  at 
its  conclusion  the  audience  elected  me  unanimously  as  spokesman  of 
a  committee,  which  had  been  appointed  to  confer  with  the  lumberyard 
owners  in  regard  to  bringing  the  strike  to  a  close. 

During  my  speech  I  heard  some  voices  in  the  rear,  which  I  did  not 
understand,  and  saw  about  150  men  leave  the  prairie,  running  up  the 
Black  Eoad  towards  McCormick's  Reaper  Works,  (|  mile  south  of 
where  the  meeting  was).  Five  minutes  later  I  heard  pistol  shooting 
in  this  direction,  and  upon  inquiry  was  informed  that  the  striking 
molders  of  McCormick's  Works  were  trying  to  make  the  "scabs"  who 
had  taken  their  places,  stop  work.  (*) 

About  this  time — I  was  just  closing  my  speech— a  patrolwagon 
rattled  up  the  street,  filled  with  policemen ;  a  few  minutes  later  about 
75  policemen  followed  the  patrolwagon  on  foot,  who  were  again  fol- 
lowed by  3  or  4  more  patrolwagons.  The  shooting  continued,  only, 


*  Since  the  death  of  the  old  McCormick  there  has  been  trouble  at  the  works 
right  along.  Shortly  after  the  former's  death,  his  heirs  contributed  several  hund- 
red thousand  dollars  to  the  maintenance  of  a  religious  institute.  Particular  at- 
tention was  called  to  this  "generous  gift"  by  the  fact  that  almost  simultaneously 
a  general  reduction  of  wages  in  the  Reaper  Works  was  decreed.  Malicious  per- 
ons  insinuated  that  the  "generous  gift"  (which  was  looked  upon  as  an  attempt  to 
bribe  the  heavenly  authorities  in  behalf  of  the  donaters,)  was  to  be  squeezed  out 
of  the  already  poorly  paid  employes.  A  strike  against  the  reduction  ensued. 
Young  McCormick  engaged  the  Pinkerton  banditti  to  enforce  his  Christian  methods. 
The  P's  went  to  work  with  admirable  zeal.  Coming  along  in  an  omnibus  and  see- 
ing several  hundred  persons  assembled  near  the  factory,  they  at  once  and  with- 
out a  word  of  warning  opened  fire  upon  the  "mob".  As  they  were  not  the  best 
marksmen,  only  one  old  man  (Eothe — he  committed  suicide  the  other  day  in  a  fit 
of  melancholy,  brought  about  by  the  wound)  was  shot  in  the  back  and  was  serious- 
ly wounded.  The  strikers  enraged  through  this  dastardly  assault,  made  an  attack 
upon  another  omnibus,  whose  occupants  took  to  the  prairie,  leaving  a  lot  of  Win- 
chester rifles,  revolvers  and  amunition  in  the  possession  of  the  strikers.  The 
captured  omnibus  was  burned  to  ashes.  When  the  millionair  heirMcCoimick  saw 
that  "his"  strikers  were  made  of  "sterner  stuff"  than  the  ordinary  tlaves.  he  at 
once  surrendered,  and  adopted  another  method  to  enforce  his  decree.  Instead  of 
reducing  the  wages  of  the  entire  force  at  one  time,  he  observed  the  rule  laid  down 
by  the  Irish  woman,  who  chopped  off  a  little  piece  of  her  dogs  tail  each  day.  This 
and  the  secret  war  he  waged  against  the  labor  organisation,  resulted  in  another 
strike  in  February  1886.  McCormick  engaged  "scabs"  to  take  the  places  of  the 
strikers,  and  it  seems  that  some  of  these  stiikers  made  the  attack  upon  McCor- 
micks  on  May  3. 


42  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

that  instead  of  the  single  shots  regular  volleys  were  now  fired.  I  left 
the  meeting  and  hastened  up  to  McCormicks.  A  long  line  of  freight 
cars  were  standing  on  the  railroad  track  in  front  of  the  high  board 
enclosure  of  the  factory  buildings.  Between  these  cars  and  the  fence 
was  the  battlefield,  or  better  the  target  range  of  the  police.  All  I  could 
see  was  that  about  150  men,  women  and  small  boys  were  chased  by  as 
many  or  more  policemen  who  emptied  their  revolvers  in  rapid  succes- 
sion upon  the  fleeing  and  screaming  "  mob". 

To  say  that  I  was  horrified  at  the  sight  of  this  is  only  expressing 
vaguely  what  I  felt.  I  saw  several  persons  carried  and  led  away  by 
their  friends — they  had  been  shot.  A  young  Irishman,  who  seemed  to 

know  me,  came  running  up  to  me  and  said : — "what  kind  of  a  h 

of  union  is  that  down  there !  (pointing  to  the  lumber  shovers  meet- 
ing.) They  must  be  nice  fellows  to  stand  by  and  have  their  brothers 
shot  down  like  dogs  by  these !" 

"Have  many  been  hurt?"  I  inquired. 

"Many?  I  should  think  so !  I  helped  carrying  two  away,  who 
seemed  to  be  killed.  Nobody  knows  how  many  have  been  shot  and 
killed!"  was  his  reply,  adding — "Have  you  no  influence  with  those 
men  down  there?  If  you  have,  for  God's  sake,  bring  them  up  here  !" 

I  have  seen  this  identical  man  a  few  weeks  ago  in  the  jail,  and 
upon  inquiry  learned  that  he  was  a  detective! 

I  ran  back  to  the  meeting,  which  in  the  meantime  had  been  ad- 
journed. The  people  were  leaving  it  in  small  knots,  going  home,  some 
of  them  indifferent  and  unconcerned  at  the  news  from  MnCormick's, 
others  shaking  their  heads  in  indignation.  I  was  frantic,  but  my 
senses  returned  as  I  glanced  over  the  stolid  faces  of  these  people , 
there  was  no  response  there  !  And,  seeing  that  I  could  be  of  no  pos- 
sible assistance  here,  I  took  a  car,  without  uttering  another  word  and 
rode  down  town  to  my  office.  Just  in  what  frame  of  mind  I  was,  I 
cannot  describe.  I  sat  down  to  address  a  circular  to  the  workingmen 
—a  short  account  of  what  had  transpired  and  a  word  of  advice:  that 
they  should  not  be  so  foolish  as  to  try  and  resist  an  armed  organized 
"mob",  in  the  employ  of  the  capitalists,  with  empty  hands, — but  I 
was  so  excited  that  I  could  not  write.  I  dictated  a  short  address,  but 
tore  it  up  again,  after  I  had  read  it,  and  then  sat  down— the  composi- 
tors were  waiting  for  the  copy,  it  being  after  the  regular  hours — and 
"wrote  the  now  famous  so-called  "Revenge-Circular"  in  English  and 
German.  The  word  "Kevenge"  was  put  on  as  a  headline  by  one  of  the 
compositors  (without  my  knowledge)  who  "thought  it  made  a  good 
heading."  I  ordered  the  circular  printed  and  told  the  office  assistant 


AUTOBIOGKAPHICAL  SKETCH.  43 

to  have  them  taken  to  the  different  meetings  that  were  held  in  the 
evening.  There  were  only  a  few  hundred  of  them  circulated.  After  I 
had  given  this  order  I  went  home.  On  the  following  morning  about 
9  or  10  o'clock  A.  Fischer,  one  of  our  compositors,  asked  me  if  I  would 
not  come  to  a  general  mass-meeting  which  would  take  place  at  the 
Haymarket  in  the  evening,  and  "make  a  speech"  on  the  brutality  of 
the  police  and  the  situation  of  the  8  hour  strike.  I  replied  that  I  was 
hardly  able  to  speak,  but  if  there  was  no  one  to  take  my  place,  I 
should  come.  Delegates  of  a  number  of  unions  had  called  the  meet- 
ing, he  said.  I  made  no  further  inquiries.  About  11  o'clock  a  member 
of  the  Carpenters'  Union  called  on  me  and  asked  that  the  handbill  he 
showed  me  be  published  in  the  "Arb.-Ztg."  as  an  announcement.  It 
was  the  circular  calling  the  Haymarket  meeting,  and  at  the  bottom  it 
contained  the  words—  "Workingmen,  bring  your  arms  along!" 

"This  is  ridiculous  !"  said  I  to  the  man  and  had  Fischer  called. 
Him  I  told  that  I  would  not  speak  at  the  meeting,  if  this  was  the  cir- 
cular by  which  it  had  been  called. 

"None  of  the  circulars  are  as  yet  distributed — we  can  have  these 
words  taken  out" — the  man  said.  Fischer  assented,  and  I  told  them 
that  if  they  would  do  that  it  would  be  all  right. 

I  never  for  a  moment  anticipated  that  the  police  would  wantonly 
attack  an  orderly  meeting  of  citizens.  And  I  never  saw  a  disorderly 
meeting  of  workingmen !  The  only  disorderly  meetings  I  have 
ever  witnessed  were  the  republican  and  democratic  pow- wow's.  I  went 
home  about  4  o'clock  P.  M.  to  take  a  little  rest  before  going  to  the 
meeting.  The  reaction,  following  the  excitement  of  the  previous  day 
had  set  in.  I  was  very  tired  and  illhumored.  After  supper  my  broth- 
er Henry  called  at  our  house.  I  asked  him  to  come  along  to  the  meet- 
ing, which  he  did.  We  walked  slowly  down  Milwaukee  Ave.  It  was 
warm  ;  I  had  changed  my  clothes ;  the  revolver  I  was  in  the  habit  of 
carrying  was  too  large  for  the  pocket,  and  inconvenienced  me.  Pass- 
ing F.  Stauber's  hardware  store,  I  left  it  with  him.  It  was  about  8.15 
o'clock  when  we  arrived  at  Desplaines  and  Lake  St.  I  was  under  the 
impression  that  I  was  to  speak  in  German,  which  generally  follows 
the  English.  That  is  the  reason  why  I  was  late.  Small  and  large 
groups  of  men  were  standing  around,  but  there  was  no  meeting.  Not 
seeing  anyone  who  might  be  supposed  to  be  intrusted  with  the  manage- 
ment of  the  meeting,  I  jumped  upon  a  wagon,  inquired  for  Mr.  Pars- 
ons, who  I  thought  had  been  invited,  and  called  the  meeting  to  order. 
Parsons  was  not  there.  I  saw  Parsons  at  the  corner  of  Halsted  and 
Randolph  Sts. ;  I  think  he  is  speaking  there'' — said  a  reporter  to  me. 
I  told  the  crowd  to  wait  a  few  minutes,  while  I  went  out  in  search  of 


44  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

Parsons.  Not  finding  him  I  returned  to  the  wagon  where  somebody 
told  me  Parsons,  Fielden  and  others  were  holding  a  meeting  in  the 
office  of  the  "Arbeiter-Zeilung.  I  sent  one  of  our  employes  over  to 
the  office  to  call  Parsons  and  Fielden,  and  began  to  address  the  meet- 
ing. I  spoke  about  twenty  minutes. 

Then  Parsons  spoke.  The  audience  was  very  quiet  and  attentive. 
Parsons  confined  himself  to  the  eight  hour  question,  but  spoke  at  great 
length.  While  he  was  speaking,  I  asked  Mr.  Fielden  if  he  would  not 
make  a  few  remarks.  He  didn't  care  to  speak,  but  would  say  a  few 
words  and  then  adjourn  the  meeting.  I  said  "all  right,  do  so."  It 
was  about  10  o'clock  when  Fielden  began  to  speak.  A  few  minutes 
later  a  dark  and  threatening  cloud  moved  up  from  the  north.  The 
people  fearing  that  it  would  rain — or  at  least  two-thirds  of  them — left 
the  meeting.  "Stay" — said  Fielden— "just  a  minute  longer,  I  will 
conclude  presently."  There  were  now  not  more  than  200  persons  re- 
maining ;  one  minute  later  200  policemen  formed  into  line  at  the 
intersection  of  Randolph  St.  and  marched  upon  the  little  crowd  in 
double  quick  step ! 

Eaising  his  cane  in  an  authoritative  way,  captain  Ward — directing 
his  words  to  Fielden  (I  was  standing  just  behind  Fielden  in  the  wagon) 
said :  "In  the  name  of  the  people  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  I  command 
this  meeting  to  disperse." 

"Captain,  this  is  a  peaceable  meeting!"  retorted  Mr.  Fielden, 
while  the  captain  turned  around  to  his  men  and  gave  a  command  which 
I  understood  to  be — "charge  upon  them ! "  At  this  juncture  I  was  drawn 
from  the  wagon  by  my  brother  and  several  others,  and  I  had  just 
reached  the  ground  when  a  terrific  detonation  occurred.  "What  is 
that?"  asked  my  brother.  "A  canon,  I  believe,"  was  my  reply.  In 
an  instant  the  f usilade  of  the  police  began ;  everybody  was  running. 
All  this  was  as  unexpected  as  if  suddenly  a  cloud  had  burst.  I  lost  my 
brother  in  the  throng,  and  was  carried  away  towards  the  north.  Peo- 
ple fell,  struck  by  the  bullets,  right  and  left.  As  I  crossed  the  alley 
north  of  Crane's  factory,  a  lot  of  officers  ran  into  the  alley,  some  of 
them  exclaiming  that  they  were  hurt.  They  had  evidently  been  shot 
by  their  own  comrades,  and  sought  protection  in  the  alley.  I  was  in 
a  parallel  line  with  them,  and  the  bullets  whistled  around  my  head 
like  a  swarm  of  bees.  I  fell  once  or  twice  over  others  who  had 
"dropped,"  but  otherwise  escaped  unhurt  into  Zepf's  Saloon,  at  the 
corner  of  Lake  St.  Here  I  heard  for  the  first  time  that  the  loud  re- 
port had  been  caused  by  an  explosion,  which  was  thought  to  have 
been  the  explosion  of  a  bomb.  I  could  learn  no  particulars,  and  about 
a  half  hour  afterwards  took  a  car  and  rode  home  to  see  if  my  brother 


AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  45 

had  been  hurt.  He  had  received  a  dangerous  wound  Turning  aside 
when  I  had  answered— "its  a  canon,  I  believe,"  he  beheld  the  muz- 
zle of  a  revolver  deliberately  aimed  at  my  back.  Grasping  the  weapon 
the  bullet  struck  him  in  a  vital  part.*  (He  recovered.) 

The  next  morning  the  papers  reported  that  the  police  had  been 
searching  for  me  all  night  and  that  they  had  orders  to  arrest  me.  No- 
body had  been  at  my  house  during  the  night ;  the  report  was  a  lie. 
I  went  to  the  office  at  my  regular  hour  and  began  to  work.  About  9 
o'clock  detective  Jim  Bonfield  made  his  appearance  and  told  me  the 
Chief  of  Police  wanted  to  have  a  talk  with  me.  I  went  along  with  him 
to  the  central  station.  Two  other  detectives  arrested  Schwab,  and  my 
brother  Christ  who  had  come  to  the  office  to  learn  what  had  occurred 
on  the  previous  night.  The  fact  that  his  name  was  Spies  sufficed  to 
arrest  him  and  charge  him  with  having  committed  murder ! 

This  was  on  the  5th  of  May.  I  have  been  incarcerated  ever  since. 
The  comedy,  called  trial,  lasted  eight  weeks  and  ended,  as  the  reader 
well  knows,  with  our  conviction. 


*)  There  is  no  question  at  all  but  that  detectives  had  been  stationed  in  the 
srowd  to  kill  the  obnoxious  speakeis  at  the  instant  the  police  would  charge  upon 
the  crowd. 


Qddress 

When  asked  by  the  Court,  October  8th,  if  he  had  anything  to  say, 
why  the  death-sentence  should  not  be  passed  upon  him,  Mr.  Spies,  in  a 
clear,  distinct  and  firm  voice  spoke  for  nearly  two  hours.  The  following 
is  a  stenographical  report  of  what  he  said: 

YOUR  HONOR  :  In  addressing  this  court  I  speak  as  the  representa- 
tive of  one  class  to  the  representative  of  another.  I  will  begin  with 
the  words  uttered  five  hundred  years  ago  on  a  similar  occasion,  by  the 
Venetian  Doge  Faleri,  who,  addressing  the  "Council  of  Ten,"  said: 
"My  defense  is  your  accusation,  the  causes  of  my  alleged  crime  your 
history !"  I  have  been  indicted  on  the  charge  of  murder,  as  an  ac- 
complice or  accessory.  Upon  this  indictment  I  have  been  convicted. 
There  was  no  evidence  produced  by  the  State  to  show  or  even  indicate 
that  I  had  any  knowledge  of  the  man  who  threw  the  bomb,  or  that  I 
myself  had  anything  to  do  with  the  throwing  of  the  missile,  unless,  of 
course,  you  weigh  the  testimony  of  the  accomplices  of  the  State's 
Attorney  and  Bonfield,  the  testimony  of  Thompson  and  Gilmer,  by 
the  price  they  were  paid  for  it.  If  there  was  no  evidence  to  show  that 
I  was  legally  responsible  for  the  deed,  then  my  conviction  and  the  exe- 
cution of  the  sentence  is  nothing  less  than  willful,  malicious,  and 
deliberate  murder,  as  foul  a  murder  as  may  be  found  in  the  annals  of 
religious,  political,  or  any  other  sort  of  persecution.  There  have  been 
many  judicial  murders  committed  where  the  representatives  of  the 
State  were  acting  in  good  faith,  believing  their  victims  to  be  guilty  of 
the  charge  accused  of.  In  this  case  the  representatives  of  the  State 
cannot  shield  themselves  with  a  similar  excuse.  For  they  themselves 
have  fabricated  most  of  the  testimony  which  was  used  as  a  pretense  to 
convict  us  ;  to  convict  us  by  a  jury  picked  out  to  convict !  Before  this 
court,  and  before  the  public,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  State,  I 
charge  the  State's  Attorney  and  Bonfield  with  the  heinous  conspiracy 
to  commit  murder. 

I  will  state  a  little  incident  which  may  throw  light  upon  this 
charge.  On  the  evening  on  which  the  Praetorian  Guards  of  the  Citi- 
zen's Association,  the  Bankers'  Association,  the  Association  of  the 


SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFOKE  JUDGE  GAKY.  47 

Board  of  Trade  men,  and  the  railroad  princes,  attacked  the  meeting 
of  workingmen  on  the  Haymarket,  with  murderous  intent — on  that 
evening,  about  8  o'clock,  I  met  a  young  man,  Legner  by  name,  who 
is  a  member  of  the  Aurora  Turn-Verein.  He  accompanied  me,  and 
never  left  me  on  that  evening  until  I  jumped  from  the  wagon,  a  few 
seconds  before  the  explosion  occured.  He  knew  that  I  had  not  seen 
Schwab  on  that  evening.  He  knew  that  I  had  no  such  conversation 
with  anybody  as  Marshal  Field's  protege,  Thompson,  testified  to. 
He  knew  that  I  did  not  jump  from  the  wagon  to  strike  the  match  and 
hand  it  to  the  man  who  threw  the  bomb.  He  is  not  a  Socialist.  Why 
did  we  not  bring  him  on  the  stand  ?  Because  the  honorable  repre- 
sentatives of  the  State,  Grinnell  and  Bonfield,  spirited  him  away ! 
These  honorable  gentlemen  knew  everything  about  Legner.  They 
knew  that  his  testimony  would  prove  the  perjury  of  Thompson  and 
Gilmer  beyond  "all  reasonable  doubt."  Legner's  name  was  on  the 
list  of  witnesses  for  the  State.  He  was  not  called,  however,  for  obvi- 
ous reasons.  Aye,  he  stated  to  a  number  of  friends  that  he  had  been 
offered  $500  if  he  would  leave  the  city,  and  threatened  with  direful 
things  if  he  remained  here  and  appeared  as  a  witness  for  the  defense. 
He  replied  that  he  could  neither  be  bought  nor  bulldozed  to  serve 
such  a  damnable  and  dastardly  plot.  When  we  wanted  Legner,  he 
could  not  be  found ;  Mr.  Grinnell  said— and  Mr.  Grinnell  is  an  honor- 
able man ! — that  he  had  himself  been  searching  for  the  young  man, 
but  had  not  been  able  to  find  him.  About  three  weeks  later  I  learned 
that  the  very  same  young  man  had  been  kidnapped  and  taken  to 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  by  two  of  the  illustrious  guardians  of  "Law  and  Order," 
two  Chicago  detectives.  Let  Mr.  Grinnell,  let  the  Citizens'  Associa- 
tion, his  employer,  let  them  answer  for  this  !  And  let  the  public  sit  in 
judgment  upon  the  would-be  assassins. 

No,  I  repeat,  the  prosecution  has  not  established  our  legal  guilt. 
Notwithstanding  the  purchased  and  perjured  testimony  of  some,  and 
notwithstanding  the  originality  (sarcastically)  of  the  proceedings  of 
this  trial.  And  as  long  as  this  has  not  been  done,  and  you  pronounce 
upon  us  the  sentence  of  an  appointed  vigilance  committee,  acting  as 
a  jury,  I  say,  you,  the  alleged  representatives  and  high-priests  of 
"Law  and  Order,"  are  the  real  and  only  law-breakers,  and  in  this  case 
to  the  extent  of  murder.  It  is  well  that  the  people  know  this.  And 
when  I  speak  of  the  people  I  don't  mean  the  few  co-conspirators  of 
Grinnell,  the  noble  patricians  who  thrive  upon  the  misery  of  the  mul- 
titudes. These  drones  may  constitute  the  State,  they  may  control 
the  State,  they  may  have  their  Grinnells,  their  Bonfields  and  other 
hirelings  !  No,  when  I  speak  of  the  people  I  speak  of  the  great  mass 


48  SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GARY. 

of  human  bees,  the  working  people,  who  unfortunately  are  not  yet 
conscious  of  the  rascalities  that  are  perpetrated  in  the  "name  of  the 
people," — in  their  name  ! 

The  contemplated  murder  of  eight  men,  whose  only  crime  is  that 
they  have  dared  to  speak  the  truth,  may  open  the  eyes  of  the  suffer- 
ing millions ;  may  wake  them  up.  Indeed,  I  have  noticed  that  our 
conviction  has  worked  miracles  in  this  direction  already. . . .  The  class 
that  clamors  for  our  lives,  the  good,  devout  Christians,  have  attempt- 
ed in  every  way,  through  their  newspapers  and  otherwise,  to  conceal 
the  true  and  only  issue  in  this  case.  By  simply  designating  the  de- 
fendants as  "Anarchists,"  and  picturing  them  as  a  newly  discovered 
tribe  or  species  of  canibals,  and  by  inventing  shocking  and  horrifying 
stories  of  dark  conspiracies,  said  to  have  been  planned  by  them — these 
good  Christians  zealously  sought  to  keep  the  naked  fact  from  the 
working  people  and  other  righteous  parties,  namely  :  That  on  the  even- 
ing of  May  4,  200  armed  men,  under  the  command  of  a  notorious  ruffian, 
attacked  a  meeting  of  peaceable  citizens!  With  what  intention  ?  With  the 
intention  of  murdering  them  or,  as  many  of  them  as  they  could.  I 
refer  to  the  testimony  given  by  two  of  our  witnesses.*  The  wage- 
workers  of  this  city  began  to  object  to  being  fleeced  too  much — they  be- 
gan to  say  some  very  true  things,  which  were  highly  disagreeable  to 
our  patrician  class ;  they  put  forth — well,  some  very  modest  demands. 
They  thought  eight  hours  hard  toil  a  day  for  scarcely  two  hours  pay 
was  enough.  This  lawless  rabble  had  to  be  silenced  !  The  only  way 
to  silence  them  was  to  frighten  them,  and  murder  those  whom  they 
looked  up  to  as  their  "leaders."  Yes,  these  foreign  dogs  had  to  be 
taught  a  lesson,  so  that  they  might  never  again  interfere  with  the  high- 
handed exploitation  of  their  benevolent  and  Christian  masters.  Bon- 
field,  the  man  who  would  bring  a  blush  of  shame  to  the  managers  of 
the  Bartholomew  night— Bonfield,  the  illustrious  gentleman  with  a 
visage  that  would  have  done  excellent  service  to  Dore  in  portraying 
Dantes  fiends  of  hell — Bonfield  was  the  man  best  fitted  to  consumate 
the  conspiracy  of  the  Citizens'  Association,  of  our  patricians ....  If  I 
had  thrown  that  bomb,  or  had  caused  it  to  be  thrown,  or  had  known 
of  it,  I  would  not  hesitate  a  moment  to  state  so.  It  is  true  a  number 
of  lives  were  lost — many  were  wounded.  But  hundreds  of  lives  were 
thereby  saved !  But  for  that  bomb,  there  would  have  been  a  hundred 
widows  and  hundreds  of  orphans  where  now  there  are  few.  These 
facts  have  been  carefully  suppressed,  and  we  were  accused  and  convict- 

*  Bonfield  had  on  the  evening  of  May  4,  said  to  Mr.  Simondson:  "If  I  could 
only  get  3000  of  those  damn'  socialists  together,  I  would  make  short  work  of 
them." 


SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GARY.  49 

ed  of  conspiracy  by  the  real  conspirators  and  their  agents .  This,  your 
honor,  is  one  reason  why  sentence  should  not  be  passed  by  a  court  of 
justice — if  that  name  has  any  significance  at  all. 

"But,"  says  the  State,  "you  have  published  articles  on  the  manu- 
facture of  dynamite  and  bombs."  Show  me  a  daily  paper  in  this  city 
that  has  not  published  similar  articles  !  I  remember  very  distinctly  a 
long  article  in  the  Chicago  Tribune  of  February  23,  1885.  The  paper 
contained  a  description  and  drawing  of  different  kinds  of  infernal  ma- 
chines and  bombs.  I  remember  this  one  especially,  because  I  bought 
the  paper  on  a  railroad  train,  and  had  ample  time  to  read  it.  But 
since  that  time  the  Times  has  often  published  similar  articles  on  the 
subject,  and  some  of  the  dynamite  articles  found  in  the  Arbeiter-Zei- 
tung  were  translated  articles  from  the  Times,  written  by  Generals 
Molineux  and  Fitz  John  Porter,  in  which  the  use  of  dynamite  bombs 
against  striking  workmen  is  advocated  as  "the  most  effective  weapon." 
May  I  learn  why  the  editors  of  these  papers  have  not  been  indicted 
and  convicted  of  murder  ?  Is  it  because  they  have  advocated  the  use 
of  this  destructive  agent  only  against  the  common  rabble  ?  I  seek  in- 
formation !  Why  was  Mr.  Stone  of  the  News  not  made  a  defendant 
in  this  case  ?  In  his  posession  was  found  a  bomb.  Besides  that 
Mr.  Stone  published  an  article  in  January  which  gave  full  informa- 
tion regarding  the  manufacture  of  bombs.  Upon  this  information 
any  man  could  prepare  a  bomb  ready  for  use  at  the  expense  of  not 
more  than  ten  cents.  The  News  probably  has  ten  times  the  circula- 
tion of  the  Arbeiter-Zeitung.  Is  it  unlikely  that  the  bomb  used  on 
May  3th  was  one  made  after  the  News'  pattern?  As  long  as  these 
men  are  not  charged  with  murder  and  convicted,  I  insist,  your  honor, 
that  such  discrimination  in  favor  of  capital  is  incompatible  with  just- 
ice, and  sentence  should  therefore  not  be  passed. 

Grinnell's  main  argument  against  the  defendants  was  "they  are 
foreigners.  They  are  not  citizens."  I  cannot  speak  for  the  others. 
I  will  only  speak  for  myself.  I  have  been  a  resident  of  this  State  fully 
as  long  as  Grinnell,  and  probably  have  been  as  good  a  citizen — at 
least,  I  should  not  wish  to  be  compared  with  him. 

Grinnell  has  incessantly  appealed  to  the  patriotism  of  the  jury. 
To  that  I  reply  in  the  language  of  Johnson,  the  English  literateur, 

"patriotism  is  the  last  resort  of  a  scoundrel." My  efforts  in  behalf 

of  the  disinherited  and  enslaved  millions,  my  agitation  in  this  direc- 
tion, the  popularization  of  economic  teachings — in  short,  the  educa- 
tion of  the  wage-workers,  is  declared  "a  conspiracy  against  society." 
The  word  "society"  is  here  wisely  substituted  for  "the  state",  as  re- 
presented by  the  patricians  of  to-day.  It  has  always  been  the  opinion 


50  SPEECH  DELIVEKED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GAEY. 

of  the  ruling  classes,  that  the  people  must  be  kept  in  ignorance,  for 
they  lose  their  servility,  their  modesty  and  their  obedience  to  the  powers 
that  be,  as  their  intelligence  increases.  The  education  of  a  black  slave 
a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  was  a  criminal  oifense.  Why  ?  Because 
the  intelligent  slave  would  throw  off  his  shackles  at  whatever  cost. 
And  why  is  the  education  of  the  working  people  of  to-day  looked  upon 
by  a  certain  class  as  an  offense  against  the  State  ?  For  the  same 
reason  !  The  State,  however,  wisely  avoided  this  point  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  our  case.  From  their  testimony  one  is  forced  to  conclude  that 
we  had,  in  our  speeches  and  publications,  preached  nothing  else  but 
destruction  and  dynamite.  The  court  has  this  morning  stated  that 
there  is  no  case  in  history  like  this.  I  have  noticed,  during  this  trial, 
that  the  gentlemen  of  the  legal  profession  are  not  well  versed  in 
history.  In  all  historical  cases  of  this  kind  truth  had  to  be  and  was 
perverted  by  the  priest  of  the  established  power  that  was  nearing  its 
end. 

What  have  we  said  in  our  speeches  and  publications  ? 

We  have  interpreted  to  the  people  their  conditions  and  relations 
in  society.  We  have  explained  to  them  the  different  social  phenomena 
and  the  social  laws  and  circumstances  under  which  they  occur.  We 
have,  by  way  of  scientific  investigation,  incontrovertibly  proved  and 
brought  to  their  knowledge  that  the  system  of  wages  is  the  root 
of  the  social  iniquities — iniquities  so  monstrous  that  they  cry  to 
Heaven.  We  have  further  said  that  the  wage  system,  as  a  specific 
form  of  social  development,  would,  by  the  necessity  of  logic,  have  to 
make  room  for  higher  forms  of  civilization  ;  that  the  wage  system  was 
preparing  the  way  and  furnishing  the  foundation  for  a  social  system 
of  co-operation — that  is,  Socialism.  That  whether  this  or  that  theory, 
this  or  that  scheme  regarding  future  arrangements — were  not  a  matter 
of  choice,  but  one  of  historical  necessity,  and  that  to  us  the  tendency 
of  progress  seemed  to  be  Anarchism— that  is,  a  free  society  without 
kings  and  classes — a  society  of  sovereigns  in  which  the  liberty  and 
economic  equality  of  all  would  furnish  an  unshakable  equilibrium  as  a 
basis  and  condition  of  natural  order. 

It  is  not  likely  that  the  honorable  Bonfield  and  Grinnell  can  con- 
ceive of  a  social  order  not  held  intact  by  the  policeman's  club  and 
pistol,  nor  of  a  free  society  without  prisons,  gallows,  and  State's  attor- 
neys. In  such  a  society  they  probably  fail  to  find  a  place  for  them- 
selves. And  is  this  the  reason  why  Anarchism  is  such  a  "pernicious 
and  damnable  doctrine?" 

Grinnell  has  frequently  said  during  the  trial  that  Anarchism  was 
on  trial.  The  theory  of  Anarchism  belongs  to  the  realm  of  speculative 


SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GARY.  51 

philosophy.  There  was  not  a  syllable  said  about  Anarchism  at  the 
Haymarket  meeting.  At  that  meeting  the  very  popular  theme  of  re- 
ducing the  hours  of  toil  was  discussed.  But,  "Anarchism  is  on  trial !" 
foams  Mr.  Grinnell.  If  that  is  the  case,  your  honor,  very  well ;  you 
may  sentence  me,  for  I  am  an  Anarchist.  I  believe  with  Buckle,  with 
Paine,  Jefferson,  Emerson,  and  Spencer,  and  many  other  great  thinkers 
of  this  century,  that  the  state  of  casts  and  classes — the  state  were  one 
class  dominates  over  and  lives  upon  the  labor  of  another  class,  and 
calls  this  order— yes ;  I  believe  that  this  barbaric  form  of  social  organi- 
zation, with  its  legalized  plunder  and  murder,  is  doomed  to  die,  and 
make  room  for  a  free  society,  voluntary  association,  or  universal 
brotherhood,  if  you  like.  You  may  pronounce  the  sentence  upon  me, 
honorable  judge,  but  let  the  world  know  that  in  A.  D.  1886,  in  the  State 
of  Illinois,  eight  men  were  sentenced  to  death,  because  they  believed 
in  a  better  future ;  because  they  had  not  lost  their  faith  in  the  ultimate 
victory  of  liberty  and  justice  ! 

"You  have  taught  the  destruction  of  society  and  civilization,"  says 
the  tool  and  agent  of  the  Bankers'  and  Citizens'  Association,  Grinnell. 
That  man  has  yet  to  learn  what  civilization  is !  It  is  the  old,  old  argu- 
ment against  human  progress.  Bead  the  history  of  Greece,  of  Borne ; 
read  that  of  Venice ;  look  over  the  dark  pages  of  the  church,  and  fol- 
low the  thorny  path  of  science.  "No  change  !  No  change  !  You 
would  destroy  society  and  civilization!"  has  ever  been  the  cry  of  the 
ruling  classes.  They  are  so  comfortably  situated  under  the 
prevailing  system  that  they  naturally  abhor  and  fear  even  the  slightest 
change.  Their  privileges  are  as  dear  to  them  as  life  itself,  and  every 
change  threatens  these  privileges.  But  civilization  is  a  ladder  whose 
steps  are  monuments  of  such  changes  !  Without  these  social  changes 
—all  brought  about  against  the  will  and  the  force  of  the  ruling  classes 
— there  would  be  no  civilization.  As  to  the  destruction  of  society  which 
we  have  been  accused  of  seeking— sounds  this  not  like  one  of  ^Esop's 
fables — like  the  cunning  of  the  fox  ?  We,  who  have  jeopardized  our 
lives  to  save  society  from  the  fiend — the  fiend  who  has  grasped  her  by 
the  throot ;  who  sucks  her  life-blood,  who  devours  her  children— we, 
who  would  heal  her  bleeding  wounds,  who  would  free  her  from  the 
fetters  you  have  wrought  around  her;  from  the  misery  you  have 
brought  upon  her — we  her  enemies ! ! 

Honorable  Judge,  the  demons  of  hell  will  join  in  the  laughter  this 
irony  provokes !  — 

We  have  preached  dynamite.  Yes,  we  have  predicted  from  the 
lessons  history  teaches,  that  the  ruling  classes  of  to-day  would  no 
more  listen  to  the  voice  of  reason  than  their  predecessors ,  that  they 


52        SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GARY. 

would  attempt  by  brute  force  to  stay  the  wheel  of  progress.  Is  it  a 
lie,  or  was  it  the  truth  we  told  ?  Are  not  already  the  large  industries 
of  this  once  free  country  conducted  under  the  surveillance  of  the  police, 
the  detectives,  the  military,  and  the  sheriffs — and  is  this  return  to 
militancy  not  developing  from  day  to  day  ?  American  sovereigns — 
think  of  it — working  like  the  galley  convicts  under  military  guards ! 
We  have  predicted  this,  and  predict  that  soon  these  conditions  will 
grow  unbearable.  What  then  ?  The  mandate  of  the  feudal  lords  of 
our  time  is  slavery,  starvation,  and  death  !  This  has  been  their  pro- 
gramme for  the  past  years.  "When  this  hour  comes,"  we  have  said 
to  the  toiler,  "that  science  had  penetrated  the  mystery  of  nature — 
that  from  Jove's  head  once  more  has  sprung  a  minerva — dynamite  !" 
If  this  declaration  is  synonymous  with  murder,  why  not  charge  those 
with  the  crime  to  whom  we  owe  the  invention  ? 

To  charge  us  with  an  attempt  to  overthrow  the  present  system  on 
or  about  May  4th  by  force,  and  then  establish  Anarchy,  is  too  absurd 
a  statement,  I  think,  even  for  a  political  office-holder  to  make.  If 
Grinnell  believed  that  we  attempted  such  a  thing,  why  did  he  not  have 
Dr.  Bluthardt  make  an  inquiry  as  to  our  sanity?  Only  mad  men 
could  have  planned  such  a  brilliant  scheme,  and  mad  people  cannot 
be  indicted  or  convicted  of  murder.  If  there  had  existed  anything  like 
a  conspiracy  or  a  pre- arrangement,  does  your  honor  believe  that 
events  would  not  have  taken  a  different  course  than  they  did  on  that 
evening  and  later?  This  "conspiracy'' nonsense  is  based  upon  an 
oration  I  delivered  on  the  anniversary  of  Washington's  birthday  at 
Grand  Eapids,  Mich.,  more  than  a  year  and  a  half  ago.  I  had  been 
invited  by  the  Knights  of  Labor  for  that  purpose.  I  dwelt  upon 
the  fact  that  our  country  was  far  from  being  what  the  great  revolutio- 
nists of  the  last  century  had  intended  it  to  be.  I  said  that  those  men, 
if  they  lived  to-day,  would  clean  the  Augean  stables  with  iron  brooms, 
and  that  they,  too,  would  undoubtedly  be  characterized  as  "wild  eyed, 
distracted  Socialists".  It  is  not  unlikely  that  I  said  Washington  would 
have  been  hanged  for  treason  if  the  revolution  had  failed.  Grinnell 
made  this  "sacrilegious  remark"  his  main  arrow  against  me.  Why? 
Because  he  intended  to  inveigh  the  know-nothing  spirit  against  us. 
But  who  will  deny  the  correctness  of  the  statement  ?  That  I  should 
have  compared  myself  with  Washington,  is  a  base  lie.  But  if  I  had 
would  that  be  murder  ?  I  may  have  told  that  individual  who  appeared 
here  as  a  witness  that  the  workingmen  should  procure  arms,  as  force 
would  in  all  probability  be  the  ultima  ratio;  and  that  in  Chicago  there 
were  so  and  so  many  armed,  but  I  certainly  did  not  say  that  we  pro- 
posed to  "inaugurate  the  social  revolution."  And  let  me  say  here: 


SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GARY.        53 

Revolutions  are  no  more  made  than  earthquakes  and  cyclones.  Revo- 
lutions are  the  effect  of  certain  causes  and  conditions.  I  have  made 
social  philosophy  a  specific  study  for  more  than  ten  years,  and  I  could 
not  have  given  vent  to  such  nonsense  !  I  do  believe,  however,  that 
the  revolution  is  near  at  hand — in  fact,  that  it  is  upon  us.  But  is  the 
physician  responsible  for  the  death  of  the  patient  because  he  foretold 
that  death  ?  If  any  one  is  to  be  blamed  for  the  coming  revolution  it 
is  the  ruling  class  who  steadily  refused  to  make  concessions  as  reforms 
became  necessary ;  who  maintain  that  they  can  call  a  halt  to  progress, 
and  dictate  a  stand-still  to  the  eternal  forces,  of  which  they  themselves 
are  but  a  whimsical  creation. 

The  position  generally  taken  in  this  case  is  that  we  are  morally 
responsible  for  the  police  riot  on  May  4th.  Four  or  five  years  ago  I 
sat  in  this  very  court  room  as  a  witness.  The  working  men  had  been 
trying  to  obtain  redress  in  a  lawful  manner.  They  had  voted,  and 
among  others,  had  elected  their  Aldermanic  candidate  from  the  Four- 
teenth Ward.  But  the  street  car  company  did  not  like  that  man.  And 
two  of  the  three  election  judges  of  one  precinct,  knowing  this,  took  the 
ballot  box  to  their  home  and  "corrected"  the  election  returns,  so  as  to 
cheat  the  constituents  of  the  elected  candidate  of  their  rightful  repre- 
sentative, and  give  the  representation  to  the  benevolent  street  car  mo- 
nopoly. The  workingmen  spent  $1,500  in  the  prosecution  of  the  per- 
petrators of  this  crime.  The  proof  against  them  was  too  overwhelming 
that  they  confessed  having  falsified  the  returns  and  forged  the  official 
documents.  Judge  Gardner,  who  was  presiding  in  this  court,  acquitted 
them,  stating  that  "that  act  had  apparently  not  been  prompted  by 
criminal  intend."  (!)  I  will  make  no  comment.  But  when  we  approach 
the  field  of  moral  responsibility,  it  has  an  immense  scope !  Every 
man  who  has  in  the  past  assisted  in  thwarting  the  efforts  of  those  seek- 
ing reform  is  responsible  for  the  existence  of  the  revolutionists  in  this 
city  today !  Those,  however,  who  have  sought  to  bring  about  reforms 
must  be  exempted  from  this  responsibility — and  to  these  I  belong. 

If  the  verdict  is  based  upon  the  assumption  of  moral  responsibility, 
your  honor,  I  give  this  as  a  reason  why  sentence  should  not  be  passed. 

I  vouch  that,  upon  the  very  laws  you  have  read,  there  is  no  person 
in  this  court-room  now  who  could  not  be  "fairly,  impartially  and  law- 
fully" hanged !  Fouche,  Napoleon's  right- bower,  once  said  to  his 
master:  "Give  me  a  line  that  any  one  man  has  ever  written,  and  I 
will  bring  him  to  the  scaffold."  This  court  has  proceeded  upon  the 

same  principle Upon  that  law  every  person  in  this  country  can 

be  indicted  for  conspiracy,  and,  as  the  case  may  be,  for  murder.  Every 
member  of  a  trade  union,  Knights  of  Labor,  or  any  other  labor  or- 


5*        SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GARY. 

ganization,  can  then  be  convicted  of  conspiracy,  and  in  case  of  violence, 
for  which  he  may  not  be  responsible  at  all,  of  murder,  as  we  have 
been.  This  precedent  once  established,  and  you  force  the  masses  who 
are  now  agitating  in  a  peaceable  way  into  open  rebellion !  You 
thereby  shut  off  the  safety  valve — and  the  blood  which  will  be  shed,  the 
blood  of  the  innocent — it  will  come  upon  your  heads ! 

"Seven  policemen  have  died,"  said  Grinnell,  suggestively  winking 
at  the  jury.  You  want  a  life  for  a  life,  and  have  convicted  an  equal 
number  of  men,  of  whom  it  cannot  be  truthfully  said  that  they  had 
anything  whatsoever  to  do  with  the  killing  of  Bonfield's  victims.  The 
very  same  principle  of  jurisprudence  prevails  among  savage  tribes. 
Injuries  among  them  are  equalized,  so  to  speak.  The  Chinooks  and 
the  Arabs,  for  instance,  would  demand  the  life  of  an  enemy  for  every 
death  that  they  had  suffered  at  their  enemy's  hands.  They  were  not 
particular  in  regard  to  the  persons,  just  so  long  as  they  had  a  life  for 
a  life.  This  principle  also  prevails  today  among  the  natives  of  the 
Sandwich  Islands.  If  we  are  to  be  hanged  on  this  principle  then  let 
us  know  it,  and  let  the  world  know  what  a  civilized  and  Christian 
country  it  is  in  which  the  Goulds,  the  Vanderbilts,  the  Stanfords,  the 
Fields,  Armours,  and  other  local  money  hamsters,  have  come  to  the 
rescue  of  liberty  and  justice ! 

Grinnell  has  repeatedly  stated  that  our  country  is  an  enlightened 
country,  (sarcastically).  The  verdict  fully  corroborates  this  assertion! 

This  verdict  against  us  is  the  anathema  of  the  wealthy  classes  over 
their  despoiled  victims — the  vast  army  of  wage  workers  and  farmers.  If 
your  honor  would  not  have  these  people  believe  so ;  if  you  would  not 
have  them  believe  that  we  have  once  more  arrived  at  the  Spartan 
Senate,  the  Athenian  Areopagus,  the  Venetian  Council  of  Ten,  etc., 
then  sentence  should  not  be  pronounced.  But,  if  you  think  that  by 
hanging  us,  you  can  stamp  out  the  labor  movement — the  movement 
from  which  the  downtrodden  millions,  the  millions  who  toil  and  live 
in  want  and  misery — the  wage  slaves — expect  salvation — if  this  is  your 
opinion,  than  hang  us ...  !  Here  you  will  tread  upon  a  spark,  but 
there,  and  there,  and  behind  you  and  in  front  of  you,  and  everywhere, 
flames  blaze  up !  It  is  a  subterranean  fire.  You  cannot  put  it  out. 
The  ground  is  on  fire  upon  which  you  stand.  You  can't  under- 
stand it.  You  don't  believe  in  magical  arts,  as  your  grandfathers 
did,  who  burned  witches  at  the  stake,  but  you  do  believe  in  conspira- 
cies ;  you  believe  that  all  these  occurrences  of  late  are  the  work  of  con- 
spirators! You  resemble  the  child  that  is  looking  for  his  picture 
behind  the  mirror.  What  you  see  and  what  you  try  to  grasp  is  noth- 
ing but  the  deceptive  reflex  of  the  stings  of  your  bad  conscience.  You 


SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GARY.        55 

want  to  "stamp  out  the  conspirators" — the  "agitators"  ?  Ah,  stamp  out 
every  factory  lord  who  has  grown  wealthy  upon  the  unpaid  labor  of 
his  employes.  Stamp  out  every  landlord  who  has  amassed  fortunes 
from  the  rent  of  overburdened  workingmen  and  farmers.  Stamp  out 
every  machine  that  is  revolutionizing  industry  and  agriculture,  that 
intensities  the  production,  ruins  the-  producer,  that  increases  the 
national  wealth :  while  the  creator  of  all  these  things  stands  amidst 
them,  tantalized  with  hunger !  Stamp  out  the  railroads,  the  telegraph, 
the  telephone,  steam  and  yourselves — for  everything  breathes  the  re- 
volutionary spirit. 

You,  gentlemen,  are  the  revolutionists !  You  rebel  against  the 
effects  of  social  conditions  which  have  tossed  you,  by  Fortuna's  hands, 
into  a  magnificent  paradise.  Without  inquiring,  you  imagine  that  no 
one  else  has  a  right  in  that  place.  You  insist  that  you  are  the  chosen 
ones,  the  sole  proprietors.  Ah,  but  the  forces  that  tossed  you  into 
this  paradise,  the  industrial  forces,  are  still  at  work !  They  are  grow- 
ing more  active  and  intense  from  day  to  day.  Their  tendency  is  to 
elevate  all  mankind  to  the  same  level,  to  have  all  humanity  share  in 
the  paradise  you  now  monopolize.  You,  in  your  blindness,  think  you 
can  stop  the  tidal  wave  of  civilization  and  human  emancipation  by 
placing  a  few  policemen,  a  few  gatling  guns,  and  some  regiments  of 
militia  on  the  shore — you  think  you  can  frighten  the  rising  waves 
back  into  the  unfathomable  depths,  whence  they  have  arisen,  by  erect- 
ing a  few  gallows  in  the  perspective You,  who  oppose  the  natural 

course  of  things,  you  are  the  real  revolutionists.  You  and  you  alone 
are  the  conspirators  and  destructionists ! 

Said  the  court  yesterday,  in  referring  to  the  Board  of  Trade  dem- 
onstration :  "These  men  started  out  with  the  express  purpose  of  sack- 
ing the  Board  of  Trade  building."  While  I  can't  see  what  sense  there 
would  have  been  in  such  an  undertaking,  and  while  I  know  that  the 
said  demonstration  was  arranged  simply  as  a  means  of  propaganda 
against  the  system  that  legalizes  the  "respectable  business"  carried 
on  there,  I  will  assume  that  the  three  thousand  workingmen  who 
marched  in  that  procession  really  intended  to  sack  the  building.  In 
this  case  they  would  have  differed  from  the  respectable  Board  of  Trade 
men  only  in  this — that  they  had  sought  to  recover  property  in  an  un- 
lawful way,  while  the  others  lawfully  and  unlawfully  sack  the  entire 
country — this  being  their  highly  respectable  profession.  This  court  of 
"justice  and  equity"  has  thus  proclaimed  the  principle  that  when  two 
persons  do  the  same  thing,  it  is  not  the  same  thing.  I  thank  the 
court  for  this  confession.  It  contains  all  that  we  have  taught  and  for 
which  we  are  to  be  hanged,  in  a  nutshell !  Theft  is  a  respectable  pro- 


56        SPEECH  DELIVEKED  BEFOKE  JUDGE  GAEY. 

fession  when  practiced  by  the  privileged  class.  It  is  a  felony  when 
resorted  to  in  self-preservation  by  the  other  class. 

Kapine  and  pillage  are  the  "order"  of  a  certain  class  of  gentlemen 
who  find  this  mode  of  earning  a  livelihood  easier  and  preferable  to 
honest  labor; — this  kind  of  "order"  we  have  attempted,  and  are  now 
trying,  and  will  try  as  long  as  we  live  to  do  away  with.  Look  upon 
the  economic  battle-field!  Behold  the  carnage  and  plunder  of  the 
Christian  patricians !  Accompany  me  to  the  quarters  of  the  wealth- 
creators  in  this  city.  Go  with  me  to  the  half- starved  miners  of  the 
Hocking  Valley.  Look  at  the  pariahs  in  the  Monongahela  Valley, 
and  many  other  mining  districts  in  this  country,  or  pass  along  the 
railroads  of  that  most  orderly  and  law-abiding  citizen,  Jay  Gould. 
And  then  tell  me  whether  this  order  has  in  it  any  moral  principle  for 
which  it  should  be  preserved !  I  say  that  the  preservation  of  such  an 
order  is  criminal  —  is  murderous.  It  means  the  preservation  of 
the  systematic  destruction  of  children  and  women  in  factories. 
It  means  the  preservation  of  enforced  idleness  of  large  armies  of 
men,  and  their  degradation.  It  means  the  preservation  of  intem- 
perance, and  sexual  as  well  as  intellectual  prostitution.  It  means 
the  preservation  of  misery,  want,  and  servility  on  one  hand,  and  the 
dangerous  accumulation  of  spoils,  accompanied  with  idleness,  voluptu- 
ousness and  tyranny  on  the  other.  It  means  the  preservation  of  vice 
in  every  form.  And  last  but  not  least,  it  means  the  preservation  of 
the  class  struggle,  of  strikes,  riots  and  bloodshed,  That  is  your  "ord- 
er," gentlemen !  Yes,  and  it  is  worthy  of  you  to  be  the  champions  of 
such  an  order.  You  are  eminently  fitted  for  that  role.  You  have  my 
compliments ! 

Grinnell  spoke  of  Victor  Hugo.  I  need  not  repeat  what  he  said,* 
but  will  answer  him  in  the  language  of  one  of  our  German  philoso- 
phers :  "Our Bourgeoisie  erects  monuments  in  honor  of  the  memory  of 
the  classics.  If  they  had  read  them  they  would  burn  them  !"  Why, 
amongst  the  articles  read  here  from  the  Arbeiter-Zeitung,  put  in  evi- 
dence by  the  State, — by  which  they  intended  to  convince  the  jury  of 
the  dangerous  character  of  the  accused  anarchists,  is  a  very  popular 
extract  from  Goethe's  Faust, 

"Es  erben  sich  Gesetz  und  Rechte, 
Wie  eine  ew'ge  Krankheit  fort,"  etc. 

("law  and  class  privileges  are  transmitted  like  an  hereditary  disease.") 
And  Mr.  Ingam  in  his  speech  told  the  Christian  jurors  that  our  com- 


*  He  asserted  that  Victor  Hugo's  writings  (of  which  he  knows  us  much  as 
the  average  Chicago  policeman)  werenot  revolutionary. 


SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GARY.  57 

rades,  the  Paris  communists,  had  in  1871,  dethroned  God,  the  Almighty 
and  had  put  in  his  place  a  low  prostitute.  The  effect  was  marvelous ! 
The  good  Christians  were  shocked. 

I  wish  your  honor  would  inform  the  learned  gentlemen  that  the 
episode  related  occurred  in  Paris  nearly  a  century  ago,  and  that  the 
I  sacrilegious  perpetrators  were  the  contemporaries  of  this  Eepublic — 
that  among  them  was  Thomas  Paine.  Nor  was  the  woman  a  prosti- 
tute, but  a  good  citoyenne  de  Paris,  who  served  on  that  occasion  simp- 
ly as  an  allegory  of  the  goddess  of  reason. 

Eeferring  to  Most's  letter,  read  here,  Mr.  Ingham  said :  "They," 
meaning  Most  and  myself,  "they  might  have  destroyed  thousands  of 
innocent  lives  in  the  Hocking  Valley  with  that  dynamite."  I  have 
said  all  I  know  about  the  letter  on  the  witnes  stand,  but  will  add  that 
•(wo  years  ago  I  went  through  the  Hocking  Valley  as  a  correspondent. 
"Vhile  there  I  saw  hundreds  of  lives  in  the  process  of  slow  destruction, 
gradual  destruction.  There  was  no  dynamite,  nor  were  they  Anar- 
chists who  did  that  diabolical  work.  It  was  the  work  of  a  party  of 
highly  respectable  monopolists,  law-abiding  citizens,  if  you  please.  It 
is  leedless  to  say  the  murderers  were  never  indicted.  The  press  had 
littJe  to  say,  and  the  State  of  Ohio  assisted  them.  What  a  terror  it 
wou\d  have  created  if  the  victims  of  this  diabolical  plot  had  resented 
and  olown  some  of  those  respectable  cut-throats  to  atoms  !  When,  in 
EasfSt.  Louis,  Jay  Gould's  hirelings,  "the  men  of  grit,"  shot  down 
in  coli  blood  and  killed  six  inoffensive  workingmen  and  women,  there 
•was  veW  little  said,  and  the  grand  jury  refused  to  indict  the  gentlemen. 
It  was  the  same  way  in  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  other  places.  A  Chi- 
cago furniture  manufacturer  shot  down  and  seriously  wounded  two 
striking  vorkingmen  last  spring.  He  was  held  over  to  the  grand  jury. 
The  gran<\  jury  refused  to  indict  the  gentleman. 

But  wVen,  on  one  occasion,  a  workingman  in  self-defense  resisted 
ihe  murderVus  attempt  of  the  police  and  threw  a  bomb,  and  for  once 
blood,  too,  nWed  on  the  other  side,  then  a  terrific  howl  went  up  from 
the  land :  "Conspiracy  has  attacked  vested  rights  !"  And  eight  victims 
are  demandedfor  it.  There  has  been  much  said  about  the  public 
sentiment.  TWe  has  been  much  said  about  the  public  clamor.  Why, 
it  is  a  fact,  thataio  citizen  dared  express  another  opinion  than  that 
prescribed  by  th\  authorities  of  the  state,  for  if  one  had  done  other- 
wise, he  would  hfye  been  locked  up :  he  might  have  been  sent  to  the 
gallows.  No  lessVeason  to  send  him  to  the  scaffold  than  us  ! 

"These  men, '\Grinnell  said  repeatedly,  "have  no  principles; 
ihey  are  common  nWderers,  assassins,  robbers,"  etc.  I  admit  that 
our  aspirations  and\bjects  will  ever  remain  incomprehensible  to  un- 


58        SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFOKE  JUDGE  GARY. 

principled  ruffians.  The  assertion,  if  I  mistake  not,  was  based  on  the 
ground  that  we  sought  to  destroy  property.  Whether  this  perversion 
of  facts  was  intentional,  I  know  not.  But  in  justification  of  our  doc- 
trines I  will  say  that  the  assertion  is  an  infamous  falsehood.  Articles- 
have  been  read  here  from  the  Arbeiter-Zeitung  and  Alarm  to  show  the 
dangerous  character  of  the  defendants.  The  files  of  the  Arbeiter-Zei- 
tung and  Alarm  have  been  searched  for  the  past  years.  Those  articles 
which  generally  commented  upon  some  atrocity  committed  by  the  au- 
thorities upon  striking  workingmen  were  picked  out  and  read  to  you. 
Other  articles  were  not  read  to  the  court.  Other  articles  were  not 
what  was  wanted.  The  State's  Attorney  upon  those  articles  (who  well 
knows  that  he  tells  a  falsehood  when  he  says  it,)  asserts  that  "these 
men  have  no  principle." 

A  few  weeks  before  I  was  arrested  and  charged  with  the  crime  for 
which  I  have  been  convicted,  I  was  invited  by  the  clergymen  of  tha 
Congregational  Church  to  lecture  upon  the  subject  of  socialism,  and 
debate  with  them.  This  took  place  at  the  Grand  Pacific  Hotel,  Aid 
so  that  it  cannot  be  said  that  after  I  have  been  arrested,  after  I  have 
been  indicted,  and  after  I  have  been  convicted,  I  have  put  togetler 
some  principles  to  justify  my  action,  I  will  read  what  I  said  then— 

CAPT.  BLACK:     "Give  the  date  of  the  paper." 

MB.  SPIES:     "January  9,  1886." 

CAPT.  BLACK:     "What  paper,  the  Alarm?" 

MR.  SPIES  :  "  The  Alarm.  When  I  was  asked  upon  that  occasion 
what  Socialism  was,  I  said  this : 

"Socialism  is  simply  a  resume  of  the  phenomena  of  social  life  of 
the  past  and  present  traced  to  their  fundamental  causes,  ant  brought 
into  causal  connection  with  one  another.  It  rests  upon  the  established 
fact  that  the  economic  conditions  and  institutions  of  a  ptople  form 
the  ground-work  of  all  their  social  conditions,  of  their  idear — aye,  even 
of  their  religion,  and  further,  that  all  changes  of  economj-!  conditions, 
every  step  in  advance,  arises  from  the  struggles  between  the  dominat- 
ing and  dominated  class  in  different  ages.  You,  gentfemen,  cannot 
place  yourselves  at  this  standpoint  of  empiric  science ;  /our  profession 
demands  that  you  occupy  the  opposite  position,  that  vhich  knows  ab- 
solutely nothing  of  things  that  exist,  but  which  knovs  everything  of 
matters  that  are  utterly  incomprehensible  to  commoi  mortals. 

"....Lest  you  should  be  unable  to  exactly  grasp  my  meaning, 
however,  I  will  now  state  the  matter  a  little  more  plainly.  It  cannot 
be  unknown  to  you  that  in  the  course  of  this  jentury  there  have 
appeared  an  infinite  number  of  inventions  and  discoveries,  which  have 


SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GARY.  59 

brought  about  great,  aye,  astonishing  changes  in  the  production  of  the 
necessities  of  life.  The  work  of  machines  has,  to  a  great  extent,  re- 
placed that  of  man. 

"Machinery  has  the  quality  of  great  contraction  of  working- power, 
by  which  the  ever  increasing  subdivision  of  labor  is  possible. 

"  The  advantages  resulting  from  this  centralization  of  production 
were  so  abvious  as  to  cause  its  still  further  extension.  From  this  con- 
centration of  the  means  of  labor  and  working  hands,  while  the  old 
system  of  distribution  was  (and  is)  retained,  arose  those  anomalous 
conditions  under  which  society  is  suffering. 

"  The  means  of  production  thus  came  into  the  hands  of  an  ever 
decreasing  number,  while  the  actual  producers,  through  the  introduc- 
tion of  machinery,  deprived  of  the  opportunity  to  toil,  and  being  at 
the  same  time  disinherited  of  the  bounties  of  nature,  were  consigned 
to  pauperism,  vagabondage,  crime,  prostitution — evils  which  you 
gentlemen  would  like  to  exorcise  with  your  little  prayer-book. 

"  The  Socialists  award  your  efforts  a  joculor  rather  than  a  serious 
attention — (symptoms  of  uneasiness) — otherwise,  pray,  let  us  know 
how  much  you  have  accomplished  so  far  by  your  moral  lecturing 
toward  ameliorating  the  condition  of  those  wretched  beings  who 
through  bitter  want  have  been  driven  to  crime  and  desparation? 
(Here  several  gentlemen  sprang  to  their  feet,  exclaiming,  '  We  have 
done  a  great  deal  in  some  directions  !')  Aye,  in  some  cases  you  have 
perhaps  given  a  few  alms ;  but  what  influence  has  this,  if  I  may  ask, 
had  upon  societary  conditions,  or  in  affecting  any  change  in  the  same  ? 
Nothing ;  absolutely  nothing.  You  may  as  well  admit,  gentlemen,  for 
you  cannot  point  me  out  a  single  instance. 

"Very  well.  Those  proletarians  doomed  to  misery  and  hunger 
through  the  labor-saving  of  our  centralized  industries,  whose  number 
in  this  country  we  estimate  at  about  a  million  and  a  half,  is  it  likely 
that  they  and  the  thousands  who  are  daily  joining  their  ranks,  and  the 
millions  who  are  toiling  for  a  miserable  pittance,  who  suffer  peace- 
fully and  with  Christian  resignation,  their  destruction  at  the  hand  of 
their  thievish  and  murderous,  albeit  very  Christian  masters  ?  They 
will  defend  themselves.  It  will  come  to  a  fight. 

"  The  necessity  of  common  ownership  in  the  means  of  production, 
will  be  realized,  and  the  era  of  socialism,  of  universal  co-operation 
begins.  The  dispossessing  of  the  propertied  classes — the  socializa- 
tion of  these  possessions — and  the  universal  co-operation  of  labor,  not 
for  speculative  purposes,  but  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  demands 
which  we  make  upon  life ;  in  short,  co-operative  labor  for  the  purpose 


60  SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GAKY. 

of  perpetuating  life  and  of  enjoying  it — this  in  general  outlines,  is 
Socialism.  This  is  not,  however,  as  you  might  suppose,  a  mere 
"beautifully  conceived  plan,"  the  realization  of  which  would  be  well 
worth  striving  for  if  it  could  only  be  brought  about.  No ;  this  social- 
ization of  the  means  of  production  and  communication  of  the  land 
and  earth,  etc.,  is  not  only  something  desirable,  but  has  become  an 
imperative  necessity.  And  wherever  we  find  in  history  that  something 
becomes  a  necessity  there  we  always  find  that  the  next  step  is  the 
doing  away  with  that  necessity  by  the  supplying  of  the  logical  want. 

"Our  large  factories  and  mines,  and  the  machinery  of  exchange 
and  transportation,  apart  from  every  other  consideration,  have  already 
become  too  vast  for  private  management.  Individuals  can  no  longer 
control  them. 

"Everywhere,  wherever  we  cast  our  eyes,  we  find  forced  upon  our 
attention  the  unnatural  and  injurious  effects  of  unregulated  private 
production.  We  see  how  one  man,  or  a  number  of  men,  have  not 
only  brought  into  the  embrace  of  their  private  ownership  all  inven- 
tions in  technical  lines,  but  have  also  confiscated  for  their  exclusive 
advantage  all  natural  powers,  such  as  water,  steam  and  electricity. 
Every  fresh  invention,  every  discovery  belongs  to  them.  The  world 
exists  for  them  only.  That  they  destroy  their  fellow-beings  right  and 
left  they  little  care.  That,  by  their  machinery,  they  even  work  the 
bodies  of  little  children  into  gold  pieces,  they  hold  to  be  an  especially 
benevolent  and  a  genuine  Christian  act.  They  murder,  as  we  have 
said,  little  children  and  women  by  hard  labor,  while  they  let  strong 
men  go  hungry  for  lack  of  work. 

"People  ask  themselves  how  such  things  are  possible,  and  the 
answer  is  that  the  private  competitive  system  is  the  cause  of  it.  The 
thought  of  a  co  operative,  social,  rational,  and  well-regulated  system 
of  management  irresistibly  impresses  itself  upon  the  observer.  The 
advantages  of  such  a  system  are  of  such  a  convincing  kind,  so  patent 
to  observation — and  where  is  there  another  way  out  of  the  dilemna? 
According  to  physical  laws  a  body  always  moves,  consciously  or  un- 
consciously, along  the  line  of  least  resistance.  So  does  society  as  a 
whole.  The  path  to  co-operative  labor  and  distribution  is  leveled  by 
the  concentration  of  the  means  of  labor  under  the  private  capitalistic 
system.  We  are  already  moving  in  this  direction.  We  cannot  retreat 
even  if  we  would.  The  force  of  circumstances  drives  us  on  to 
Socialism. 

"  'And  now,  Mr.  S.,  won't  you  tell  us  how  you  are  going  to  carry 
out  the  expropriation  of  the  possessing  classes?'  asked  Kev.  Dr. 
Scudder. 


SPEECH  DELIVEBED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GARY.  61 

"  '  The  answer  lies  in  the  thing  itself.  The  key  is  furnished  by 
the  storms  raging  through  the  industrial  spheres.  You  see  how 
penuriously  the  owners  of  the  factories,  of  the  mines,  cling  to  their 
privileges,  and  will  not  yield  the  breadth  of  an  inch.  On  the  other 
hand,  you  see  the  half-starved  proletarians  driven  to  the  verge  of 
violence.' 

"  '  So  your  remedy  would  be  violence  ? ' 

"  '  Eemedy  ?  Well,  I  should  like  it  better  if  it  could  be  done  with- 
out violence,  but  you,  gentlemen,  and  the  class  you  represent,  take 
care  that  it  cannot  be  accomplished  otherwise.  Let  us  suppose  that 
the  workingmen  of  to-day  go  to  their  employers,  and  say  to  them : 
'  Listen !  Your  administration  of  affairs  don't  suit  us  any  more ;  it 
leads  to  disastrous  consequences.  While  one  part  of  us  are  worked  to 
death,  the  others,  out  of  employment,  are  starved  to  death;  little 
children  are  ground  to  death  in  the  factories,  while  strong  vigorous 
men  are  kept  in  compulsory  idleness ;  the  masses  live  in  misery  while 
a  small  class  of  respectables  only  enjoy  luxury  and  wealth ,  all  this  is 
the  result  of  your  maladministration,  which  will  bring  misfortune  even 
to  yourselves ;  step  down  and  out  now ;  let  society  have  your  property, 
which  is  nothing  but  unpaid  labor ;  we  shall  take  the  management  of 
affairs  in  our  own  hands  now ;  we  shall  administrate  matters  satis- 
factorily, and  regulate  the  institutions  of  society  in  conformity  with 
its  wants  and  desires;  voluntarily  we  agree  to  pay  you  a  life-long 
pension.  Now,  do  you  think  the  '  bosses '  would  accept  this  proposi- 
tion ?  You  certainly  don't  believe  it.  Therefore  force  I  suppose,  will 
ultimately  have  to  decide — or  do  you  know  of  any  other  way?' 

"  So  you  are  organizing  a  revolution?" 

(It  was  shortly  before  my  arrest,  and  I  answered) :  "  Such  things 
are  hard  to  organize.  A  revolution  is  a  sudden  upswelling — a  convul- 
sion of  the  feverish  body  of  society.  We  are  preparing  society  for  that 
event. 

"  'What  would  be  the  order  of  things  in  the  new  society? 

"  '  I  must  decline  to  answer  this  question,  as  it  is,  till  now,  a  mere 
matter  of  speculation.  The  organization  of  labor  on  a  co-operative 
basis  offers  no  difficulties.  The  large  establishments  of  to-day  might 
be  used  as  patterns.  Those  who  will  have  to  solve  these  questions  will 
expediently  do  it,  instead  of  working  according  to  our  prescriptions 
(if  we  should  give  any) ,  they  will  be  directed  by  the  circumstances 
and  conditions  of  their  time,  and  these  are  beyond  our  horizon.  About 
this  you  needn't  trouble  yourselves. 


62  SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GARY. 

"  'But,  friend,  don't  you  think  that  about  a  week  after  the  divi- 
sion, the  provident  will  have  all,  while  the  spendthrift  will  have  noth- 
ing?' 

"  'The  question  is  out  of  order,'  interfered  the  Chairman;  'there 
was  not  anything  said  about  division. ' 

" Prof.  Wilcox :  'Don't  you  think  the  introduction  of  Socialism 
will  destroy  individuality  ? ' 

"  ' How  can  anything  be  destroyed  which  does  not  exist?  In  our 
time  there  is  no  individuality ;  that  only  can  be  developed  under  So- 
cialism, when  mankind  will  be  independent,  economically.  Where  do 
you  meet  to-day  with  real  individuality  ?  Look  at  yourselves,  gentle- 
men !  You  don't  dare  to  give  utterance  to  any  subjective  opinion 
which  might  not  suit  the  feelings  of  your  bread-givers  and  customers. 
You  are  hypocrites,  every  business  man  is  a  hypocrite.  Everywhere 
is  hypocrisy,  servility,  lie  and  fraud.  And  the  laborers  !  There  you 
feign  anxiety  about  their  individuality ;  about  the  individuality  of  a 
class  that  has  been  degraded  to  machines — used  each  day  for  ten  or 
twelve  hours  as  appendages  to  the  lifeless  machines !  About  their 
individuality  you  are  anxious  !"(*)  —  —  —  —  —  —  —  — 

"Does  that  sound  as  though  I  had  at  that  time,  as  has  been  im- 
puted to  me,  organized  a  revolution — a  so-called  social  revolution, 
which  was  to  occur  on  or  about  the  1st  of  May  to  establish  anarchy  in 
place  of  our  present  "  ideal  order?"  I  guess  not. 

"  Socialism  does  not  mean  the  destruction  of  society.  Socialism 
is  a  constructive  and  not  a  destructive  science.  While  capitalism  ex- 
propriates the  masses  for  the  benefit  of  the  privileged  class ;  while 
capitalism  is  that  school  of  economics  which  teaches  how  one  can  live 
upon  the  labor  (i.  e.,  property)  of  the  other ;  Socialism  teaches  how  all 
may  possess  property,  and  further  teaches  that  every  man  must  work 
honestly  for  his  living,  and  not  be  playing  the  "respectable  board  of 
trade  man,"  or  any  other  highly  (?)  respectable  business-man  or 
banker,  such  as  appeared  here  as  talesmen  in  the  jurors'  box,  with  the 
fixed  opinion  that  we  ought  to  be  hanged.  Indeed,  I  believe  they  have 
that  opinion ! 

"Socialism,  in  short,  seeks  to  establish  a  universal  system  of  co- 
operation, and  to  render  accessible  to  each  and  every  member  of  the 
human  family  the  achievements  and  benefits  of  civilization,  which, 
under  capitalism,  are  being  monopolized  by  a  privileged  class  and 
employed,  not  as  they  should  be,  for  the  common  good  of  all,  but  for 


(*)  This  speech  was  translated  from  the  "Arbeiter-Zeitung";  the  translation 
is  poor. 


SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GARY.  63 

the  brutish  gratification  of  an  avaricious  class.  Under  capitalism  the 
great  inventions  of  the  past,  far  from  being  a  blessing  for  mankind, 
have  been  turned  into  a  curse  !  Under  Socialism  the  prophecy  of  the 
Greek  poet,  Antiporas,  would  be  fulfilled,  who,  at  the  invention  of  the 
first  water  mill,  exclaimed:  "This  is  the  emancipator  of  male  and 
female  slaves" ;  and  likewise  the  prediction  of  Aristotle,  who  said: 
"  When,  at  some  future  age,  every  tool,  upon  command  or  by  predesti- 
nation, will  perform  its  work  as  the  art-works  of  Daedalus  did,  which 
moved  by  themselves,  or  like  the  three-feet  of  Hephaestos,  which  went 
to  their  sacred  work  instinctively,  when  thus  the  weavers'  shuttles  will 
weave  by  themselves,  then  we  shall  no  longer  require  masters  and 
slaves."  Socialism  says  this  time  has  come,  and  can  you  deny  it? 
You  say:  "Oh,  these  heathens,  what  did  they  know?"  True  !  They 
knew  nothing  of  political  economy ;  they  knew  nothing  of  Christendom. 
They  failed  to  conceive  how  nicely  these  man-emancipating  machines 
could  be  employed  to  lengthen  the  hours  of  toil  and  to  intensify  the 
burdens  of  the  slaves.  These  heathens,  yes,  they  excused  the  slavery 
of  one  on  the  ground  that  thereby  another  would  be  afforded  the 
opportunity  of  human  development.  But  to  preach  the  slavery  of  the 
masses  in  order  that  a  few  rude  and  arrogant  parvenues  might  become 
"eminent  manufacturers,"  "extensive  packing-house  owners,"  or  "in- 
fluential shoe-black  dealers,"  to  do  this  they  lacked  that  specific 
Christian  organ. 

Socialism  teaches  that  the  machines,  the  means  of  transportation 
and  communication  are  the  result  of  the  combined  efforts  of  society, 
past  and  present,  and  that  they  are  therefore  rightfully  the  indivisible 
property  of  society,  just  the  same  as  the  soil  and  the  mines  and  all 
natural  gifts  should  be.  This  declaration  implies  that  those  who  have 
appropriated  this  wealth  wrongfully,  though  lawfully,  shall  be  expro- 
priated by  society.  The  expropriation  of  the  masses  by  the  monopol- 
ists has  reached  such  a  degree  that  the  expropriation  of  the  expro- 
priateurs  has  become  an  imperative  necessity,  an  act  of  social  self- 
preservation.  Society  will  reclaim  its  own,  even  though  you  erect  a 
gibbet  on  every  street  corner.  And  Anarchism  !  this  terrible  "ism," 
deduces  that  under  a  co-operative  organization  of  society,  under  eco- 
nomic equality  and  individual  independence,  the  "State" — the  political 
State— will  pass  into  barbaric  antiquity.  In  a  society  where  all  are 
free,  where  there  are  no  longer  masters  and  servants,  where  intellect 
stands  for  brute  force,  there  will  no  longer  be  any  use  for  the  police- 
men or  militia  to  preserve  the  so-called  "peace  and  order" — the  order 
that  the  Russian  General  speaks  of  when  he  telegraphed  to  the  Czar 
after  he  had  massacred  half  of  Warsaw,  "Order  reigns  in  Warsaw." 


64  SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GARY. 

Anarchism  does  not  mean  bloodshed;  does  not  mean  robbery, 
arson,  etc.  These  monstrosities  are,  on  the  contrary,  the  characteristic 
features  of  capitalism.  Anarchism  means  peace  and  happiness  to  all. 
Anarchism,  or  Socialism,  means  the  reorganization  of  society  upon 
scientific  principles  and  the  abolition  of  causes  which  produce  vice  and 
crime.  Capitalism  first  produces  these  social  diseases  and  then  seeks 
to  cure  them  by  punishment. 

The  court  has  had  a  great  deal  to  say  about  the  incendiary  character 
of  the  articles  read  from  the  Arbeiter-Zeitung.  Let  me  read  to  you  an 
editorial  which  appeared  in  the  Fond  du  Lac  Commonwealth,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1876,  a  Republican  paper.  If  I  am  not  mistaken  the  court  is 
Republican,  too. 

"To  arms,  Eepublicans !  Work  in  every  town  in  Wisconsin  for 
men  not  afraid  of  firearms,  blood  or  dead  bodies,  to  preserve  peace 
(that  is  the  'peace  I  have  been  speaking  of)  and  quiet ;  avoid  a  con- 
flict of  parties  to  prevent  the  administration  of  public  affairs  from 
falling  into  the  hands  of  such  obnoxious  men  as  James  G.  Jenkins. 
Every  Republican  in  Wisconsin  should  go  armed  to  the  polls  on  next 
election  day.  The  gram-stacks,  houses  and  barns  of  active  Demo- 
crats should  be  burned ;  their  children  burned  and  their  wives  out- 
raged, that  they  may  understand  that  the  Republican  party  is  the 
one  which  is  bound  to  rule,  and  the  one  which  they  should  vote  for,  or 
keep  their  vile  carcasses  away  from  the  polls.  If  they  still  persist  in 
going  to  the  polls,  and  persist  in  voting  for  Jenkins,  meet  them  on 
the  road,  in  the  bush,  on  the  hill,  or  anywhere,  and  shoot  every  one 
of  these  base  cowards  and  agitators.  If  they  are  too  strong  in  any 
locality,  and  succeed  in  putting  their  opposition  votes  into  the  ballot 
box,  break  open  the  box  and  tear  in  shreds  their  discord-breathing 
ballots.  Burn  them.  This  is  the  time  for  effective  work.  Yellow 
fever  will  not  catch  among  Morrison  Democrats ;  so  we  must  use  less 
noisy  and  more  effective  means.  The  agitators  must  be  put  down, 
and  whoever  opposes  us  does  so  at  his  peril.  Republicans,  be  at  the 
polls  in  accordance  with  the  above  directions,  and  don't  stop  for  a 
little  blood.  That  which  makes  the  solid  South  will  make  a  solid 
North." 

What  does  your  honor  say  to  these  utterances  of  a  "law  and 
order'  organ — a  Republican  organ?  How  does  the  Arbeiter-Zeitung 
compare  with  this  ? 

The  book  of  Johann  Most,  which  was  introduced  in  court,  I  have 
never  read,  and  I  admit  tliat  passages  were  read  here  that  are  repul- 
sive— that  must  be  repulsive  to  any  person  who  has  a  heart.  But  I 
call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  these  passages  have  been  translated 


SPEECH  DELIVEKED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GARY.        65 

from  a  publication  of  Andrieux,  the  ex-prefect  of  police  in  Paris,  by 
an  exponent  of  your  order !  Have  the  representatives  of  your  order 
ever  stopped  at  the  sacrifice  of  human  blood  ?  Never ! 

It  has  been  charged  that  we  (the  eight  here)  constituted  a 
conspiracy.  I  would  reply  to  that,  that  my  friend  Lingg  I  had 
seen  but  twice  at  meetings  of  the  Central  Labor  Union,  where  I 
went  as  a  reporter ;  had  seen  him  but  twice  before  I  was  arrested. 
Never  spoke  to  him.  Engel  I  have  not  been  on  speaking  terms  with 
for  at  least  a  year.  And  Fischer,  "my  lieutenant"  ( ?),  used  to  go  round 
and  make  speeches  against  me.  So  much  for  that. 

Your  honor  has  said  this  morning,  "we  must  learn  their  objects 
from  what  they  have  said  and  written,"  and  in  pursuance  thereof  the 
court  has  read  a  number  of  articles. 

Now,  if  I  had  as  much  power  as  the  court,  and  were  a  law-abiding 
citizen,  I  would  certainly  have  the  court  indicted  for  some  remarks 
made  during  this  trial.  I  will  say  that  if  I  had  not  been  an  anarchist 
at  the  beginning  of  this  trial  I  would  be  one  now.  I  quote  the  exact 
words  of  the  court  on  one  occasion.  "It  does  not  necessarily  follow 
that  all  laws  are  foolish  and  bad  because  a  good  many  of  them  are 
so."  That  is  treason,  sir !  if  we  are  to  believe  the  court  and  the  State's 
Attorney.  But,  aside  from  that,  I  cannot  see  how  we  shall  distinguish 
the  good  from  the  bad  laws  !  Am  I  to  judge  of  that  ?  No ;  I  am  not. 
But  if  I  disobey  a  bad  law,  and  am  brought  before  a  bad  judge,  I 
undoubtedly  would  be  punished. 

In  regard  to  a  report  in  the  Arbeiter-Zeitung,  also  read  this  morn- 
ing, the  report  of  the  Board  of  Trade  demonstration,  I  would  say — 
and  this  is  the  only  defense,  the  only  word  I  have  to  say  in  my  own 
defense,  is,  that  I  did  not  know  of  that  article  until  I  saw  it  in  the 
paper,  and  the  man  who  wrote  it,  wrote  it  rather  as  a  reply  to  some 
slurs  in  the  morning  papers.  He  was  discharged.  The  language 
used  in  that  article  would  never  have  been  tolerated  if  I  had  seen  it. 

Now,  if  we  cannot  be  directly  implicated  with  this  affair,  con- 
nected with  the  throwing  of  the  bomb,  where  is  the  law  that  says, 
"that  these  men  shall  be  picked  out  to  suffer"  ?  Show  me  that  law  if 
you  have  it !  If  the  position  of  the  court  is  correct,  then  half  of  this 
city — half  of  the  population  of  this  city— ought  to  be  hanged,  because 
they  are  responsible  the  same  as  we  are  for  that  act  on  May  4th.  And 
if  not  half  of  the  population  of  Chicago  is  hanged,  then  show  me  the 
law  that  says,  "Eight  men  shall  be  picked  out  and  hanged  as  scape- 
goats!" You  have  no  such  law!  Your  decision,  your  verdict,  our 
conviction  is  nothing  but  an  arbitrary  outrage.  It  is  true  there  is  no/ 
precedent  in  jurisprudence  in  this  case. 


66  SPEECH  DELIVERED  BEFORE  JUDGE  GARY. 

It  is  true  we  have  called  upon  the  people  to  arm  themselves.  It 
is  true  that  we  have  told  them  time  and  again  that  the  great  day  of 
change  was  coming.  It  was  not  our  desire  to  have  bloodshed.  We 
are  not  beasts.  We  would  not  be  socialists  if  we  were  beasts.  It  is 
because  of  our  sensitiveness  that  we  have  gone  into  this  movement 
for  the  emancipation  of  the  oppressed  and  suffering.  It  is  true  we 
have  called  upon  the  people  to  arm  and  prepare  for  the  stormy  times 
before  us. 

This  seems  to  be  the  ground  upon  which  the  verdict  is  to  be  sus- 
tained. " BUT  WHEN  A  LONG  TRAIN  OF  ABUSES  AND  USURPATIONS 

PURSUING  INVARIABLY  THE  SAME  OBJECT  EVINCES  A  DESIGN  TO  REDUCE  THE 
PEOPLE  UNDER  ABSOLUTE  DESPOTISM,  IT  IS  THEIR  RIGHT,  IT  IS  THEIR  DUTY, 
TO  THROW  OFF  SUCH  GOVERNMENT  AND  PROVIDE  NEW  GUARDS  FOR  THEIR 

FUTURE  SAFETY."  This  is  a  quotation  from  the  "Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence." Have  we  broken  any  laws  by  showing  to  the  people  how 
these  abuses,  that  have  occurred  for  the  last  twenty  years,  are  invari- 
ably pursuing  one  object,  viz. :  to  establish  an  oligarchy  in  this  coun- 
try as  strong  and  powerful  and  monstrous  as  never  before  has  existed 
in  any  country  ?  I  can  well  understand  why  that  man  Grinnell  did 
not  urge  upon  the  grand  jury  to  charge  us  with  treason.  I  well  under- 
stand his  motive.  You  cannot  try  and  convict  a  man  for  treason  who 
has  upheld  the  constitution  against  those  who  tried  to  trample  it 
under  their  feet.  It  would  not  have  been  as  easy  a  job  to  do  that, 
Mr.  Grinnell,  as  to  charge  "these  men"  with  murder,  eh? 

Now,  these  are  my  ideas.  They  constitute  a  part  of  myself.  I 
cannot  divest  myself  of  them,  nor  would  I,  if  I  could.  And  if  you 
think  that  you  can  crush  out  these  ideas  that  are  gaining  ground 
more  and  more  every  day,  if  you  think  you  can  crush  them  out  by 
sending  us  to  the  gallows — if  you  would  once  more  have  people  suffer 
the  penalty  of  death  because  they  have  dared  to  tell  the  truth — and  I 
defy  you  to  show  us  where  we  have  told  a  lie — I  say,  if  death  is  the 
penalty  for  proclaiming  the  truth,  then  I  will  proudly  and  defiantly 
pay  the  costly  price !  Call  your  hangman  !  Truth  crucified  in  Socrates, 
in  Christ,  in  Giordano  Bruno,  in  Huss,  Gallileo,  still  lives;  they  and 
others  whose  number  is  legion  have  preceded  us  on  this  path.  We  are 
ready  to  follow! 


05E5 


" The  man 

Of  virtuous  soul  commands  not,  nor  obeys. 
Power,  like  a  desolating  pestilence, 
Pollutes  whate'er  it  touches  ;  and  obedience, 
Bane  of  all  genius,  virtue,  freedom,  truth, 
Makes  slaves  of  mpin,  and  of  the  human  frame 
A  mechanized  automaton." 

— SHEI/LEY. 

On  the  morning  of  my  arrest,  my  brother  Christ  happened  to  be 
in  my  office.  He  had  not  been  there  for  months ;  he  fcwas  in  no  way 
connected  with  the  Arbeiter-Zeitung,  or  the  socialistic  movement. 
The  detectives,  learning  that  he  was  my  brother,  seized  and  arrested 
him  without  a  warrant.  He  was  insulted,  and  threatened  when  he 

had  the  temerity  to  ask  for  an  explanation In  the  afternoon 

(May  5),  the  coroner's  inquest  was  held.  The  prosecution  produced 
a  witnes§  who  swore  that  on  the  previous  evening,  shortly  before  the 
Haymarket  meeting,  he  had  heard  my  brother  say :  "I  am  going  to 
throw  a  bomb  this  evening."  Where  did  he  hear  him  say  so  ?  At  the 
corner  of  Halsted  and  Eandolph  streets.  Upon  this  testimony  my 
brother  was  held  on  the  charge  of  murder,  although  he  had  not  been 
within  three  miles  of  that  locality  at  that  time.  On  the  following  day 
he  was  taken  to  the  rogues'  gallery  and  later  to  the  County  Jail,  where 
he  was  kept  for  two  weeks.  The  prosecution  then  changed  the  origi- 
nal charge  into  "conspiracy"  and  put  him  under  a  $6,000  bond 

He  has  not  yet  been  tried.    The  state  has  never  explained  what 

became  of  the  valuable  witness  ! The  professional  witness  is  a 

part  of  our  police  system,  in  fact,  the  most  essential  part  of  it.  They 
give  whatever  testimony  is  wanted  upon  the  shortest  notice.  In  this 
city  Jim  Bonfield,  a  brother  of  the  notorious  John  Bonfield,  is  the 
drill-master  of  these  gentlemen ;  he  instructs  them  as  to  what  testi- 
mony to  give  and  posts  them  generally.  It  was  he  who  procured  the 
valuable  services  of  Harry  Gilmer,  the  honorable  gentleman,  who 
saw  me  strike  a  match  and  light  the  fuse  of  the  Haymarket  bomb. 
Mr.  Bonfield  was  well  acquainted  with  Mr.  Gilmer;  he  made  his 
acquaintance  in  the  County  Jail  about  four  years  ago. 


*  These  notes  and  letters  were  written  to  Miss  Van  Zandt  on  various  occas- 
ions.    They  are  of  general  interest. 


68  NOTES  AND  LETTERS. 

There  was  method  in  our  Persecution.  When  the  Grand  Jury 
met  to  "investigate''  the  Haymarket  affair,  three  of  the  regularly 
appointed  members  were  missing  (J),  for  which  substitutes  had  to  be 
chosen.  Chosen  from  the  body  of  the  people?  Oh,  no  !  The  "Citi- 
zens' Association"  was  managing  these  things.  The  three  "chosen 
ones"  were  members  of  this  Association  of  Millionaires  and  men 
who  desire  to  become  such.  One  of  them  was  E.  S.  Dreyer,  the 
banker.  Now,  of  the  many  friends  I  have  among  men  who  live  by 
usury  and  similar  respectable  occupations,  Mr.  Dreyer  has,  probably, 
clasped  me  nearest  to  his — heart.  I  think  it  was  in  1883,  when  our 
city  school  board  resolved  to  purchase  a  piece  of  property  from  Mr. 
Dreyer ;  the  property  was  located  at  the  corner  of  Cass  and  Illinois 
streets ;  the  price  agreed  upon  was  $32,000.  I  was  informed  that  but 
a  few  months  previous  to  this  the  identical  property  had  been  offered 
for  sale  for  4>17,500.  I  inquired  into  the  matter  and  found  that  the 
last  mentioned  sum  was  a  fair  market  price.  The  Arbeiter-Zeitung 
thereupon  called  public  attention  to  the  attempted  steal  and  spoiled 
the  little  job  for  the  very  honorable  Mr.  Dreyer.  A  banker,  and  a 
man  with  such  feelings  for  me  as  must  have  grown  out  of  our  former 
acquaintance,  was,  without  doubt,  an  exemplary  juror,  one  who  would 
weigh  the  "evidence"  in  the  Haymarket  case  "fairly  and  impartially" ! 
A  man  with  the  least  regard  for  decency  would  have  declined  to  serve 
on  the  jury  under  such  circumstances.  But  decency  is  not  considered 
a  requisite  quality  in  a  "respectable  banker!" 


The  Grand  Jury  which  indicted  us,  which  was  manipulated  by 
Grinnell,  and  of  which  Mr.  Dreyer  was  a  member,  issued  a  proclama- 
tion to  the  public  at  the  end  of  their  session.  "These  men  (referring 
to  us)  have  agitated,"  thus  the  document  read,  "the  labor  question 
for  mercenary  purposes.  A  small  coterie  in  possession  of  the  Arbeiter- 
Zeitung  have  for  years  fleeced  the  politicians  by  successfully  pretend- 
ing great  political  influence " 

I  repeat,  Mr.  Dreyer  was  a  member  of  the  body  that  issued  the 
proclamation  in  which  the  above  quotation  occurs  !  I  note  this  par- 
ticularly because  Mr.  Dreyer  was  treasurer  of  the  Democratic  Central 
Committee  during  the  Cleveland  campaign,  when  said  committee, 
through  one  of  their  agents,  Wm.  Legner,  offered  me  a  bribe  of  from 
$5,000  to  $10,000.  "All  we  ask  of  you,"  was  the  condition,  "is  that  you 
say  nothing  against  Cleveland ;  we  don't  ask  you  to  say  anything  in 
favor  of  him."  Does  any  one  mean  to  tell  me  that  the  treasurer  of 
the  campaign  committee  knew  nothing  about  this  attempted  bribe  ? 


NOTES  AND  LETTEKS.  69 


I  know  that  he  did.  He  also  knew  that  the  offer  was  indignantly  re- 
jected by  "the  mercenary  wretch"  (Spies)  !  You  see,  the  artful  dodge 
"stop  thief !"  is  not  exclusively  resorted  to  by  small  thieves  ! 


In  his  opening  speech  to  the  jury,  Grinnell  said :  "They  are  all 
cowards,  but  Fielden.  Fielden  was  the  only  man  who  had  the  courage 

and  backbone  to  stand  his  ground  and  fire "  At  that  time 

Grinnell  hadn't  "fixed"  his  case  yet;  he  had  not  yet  arranged  the 
dramatis  persona  in  the  manner  that  I  was  to  light  the  fuse  of  the  bomb. 
Otherwise  the  "gentleman"  would  certainly  have  paid  me  a  similar 
compliment.  "If,"  said  he,  again,  in  his  plaidoyer,  "if  Fielden  did 
not  stand  his  ground  and  did  not  shoot,  then  he  isn't  the  brave  man 
I  took  him  to  be." 

Now,  if  it  was  praiseworthy  in  Fielden  to  shoot,  and  if  it  was 
cowardice  not  to  shoot,  what  deduction  are  we  to  draw  from  such  a 
statement  ?  This : 

That  a  man  who  defends  himself  against  an  attack  of  the  police 
is  a  courageous  fiend,  and  that  one  who  does  not  defend  himself  is  a 
cowardly  fiend !  And  that  the  punishment  is  the  same  in  either  case. 


The  great  English  jurist  Macaulay  writes  ("Constitutional  History 
of  England") :  "To  punish  a  man,  because  we  infer  from  the  nature 
of  some  doctrine  which  he  holds,  or  from  the  conduct  of  other  persons, 
who  hold  the  same  doctrines  with  him,  that  he  will  commit  a  crime, 
is  persecution,  and  is,  in  every  case,  foolish  and  wicked."  If  the  above 
had  been  written  as  a  comment  to  the  proceedings  of  our  "trial"  it 
could  not  have  been  more  pertinent.  The  indictment  charged  us  with 
the  commission  of  murder — the  evidence  being  that  we  were  Anar- 
chists, that  we  held  certain  doctrines.  From  this  evidence  our  "guilt" 

was  inferred ! 

* 
*          * 

The  state's  attorney  told  the  jury  that  the  testimony  of  the  wit- 
nesses for  the  defense  had  no  value — they  being  socialists  and  anar- 
chists  Macaulay,  criticizing  the  civil  disability  of  the  Jews 

(Essay  I,  301),  writes:  " To  charge  men  with  practical  con- 
sequences which  they  deny  is  disingenuous  in  controversy ;  it  is 

atrocious  in  Governments It  is  quite  impossible  to  reason  from 

the  opinions  which  a  man  professes  to  his  feelings  and  his  actions ; 
and  in  fact  no  person  is  ever  such  a  fool  as  to  reason  thus,  except 
when  he  wants  &  pretext  ion:  persecuting  his  neighbors." 


70  NOTES  AND  LETTEKS. 

Ask  what  right  the  police  had  to  attack  a  peaceable  meeting  of 
citizens,  setting  the  constitutional  rights  of  free  speech  and  free 
assemblage  at  naught, — and  you  are  told  "Liberty  is  not  License  !" 

Ah !  the  sophists  !  If  I  advocate  certain  changes  in  social  affairs ; 
if  I  teach  certain  doctrines  with  which  my  neighbor  is  displeased,  does 
that  give  him  the  right  to  suppress  me,  because  "it  is  license,"  and 
because  he  has  the  power  to  suppress  me  ?  Where  there  is  liberty 
there  can  be  no  license  !  But  the  suppression  of  liberty  in  any  and 
every  form  is  license.  License  and  privilege  are  twins.  Equality 
and  liberty  are  twins.  Our  constitution  speaks  not  of  liberty  and 
license.  The  enemies  of  liberty  are  the  inventors  of  the  distinction 
between  liberty  and  license.  Liberty  can  have  no  other  but  natural 
restrictions.  How  monstrous  to  think  that  a  policeman  may  decide 
where  "liberty"  ends  and  where  "license"  begins  !  How  monetrous — 
when  we  consider  that  the  average  policeman  is  very  little,  if  at  all, 
above  the  common  brute  ! 


Carter  H.  Harrison,  the  mayor  of  Chicago,  was  present  at  the 
Haymarket  meeting  and  listened  to  the  speeches.  He  testified  that 
the  meeting  was  a  quiet  one  and  that  there  had  not  been  anything 
unusual  in  the  speeches.  He  had  hardly  left  the  meeting  when 
Inspector  Bonfield  formed  his  men  in  line  and  made  the  attack.  Now, 
inasmuch  as  the  mayor  had  just  a  few  minutes  before  told  him  "that 
the  meeting  was  all  right,"  that  he  should  send  his  reserves  home,  can 

there  be  any  doubt  as  to  the  motives  and  intentions  of  Bonfield  ? 

He  had  said  to  Mr.  Simondson  before  the  meeting  was  called  to  order, 
"if  I  could  only  get  about  3,000  of  these  socialists  together  I  would 

make  short  work  of  them  !" The  bailiff  of  the  Desplaines  street 

station  had  cautioned  a  friend  not  to  go  to  the  meeting  as  "there  was 
going  to  be  some  fun." 

It  seems,  then,  that  chief -beatle  Bonfield  was  "out  for  fun"  on 
that  memorable  night.  "Fun"  and  "making  short  work  of  the  social- 
ists," in  the  jargon  of  the  police  evidently  express  the  same  thing ! 

To  have  a  little  fun  was  the  object  of  the  murderous  attack  upon 
a  body  of  citizens  !  In  an  ordinary  case  the  attacking  party  would 
have  been  held  responsible  for  the  consequences — in  this  case  some 
citizens  who  happened  to  be  among  the  attacked  party,  and  others  who 
were  not  among  it,  who  were  not  present,  who  did  not  even  know  that 
there  was  such  a  meeting,  are  held  responsible  for  the  consequences 
of  Bonfield 's  attempt  at  jocularity. 


NOTES  AND  LETTERS.  71 

If  our  courts  and  executive  officers  are  what  they  pretend  to  be— 
the  guardians  of  the  people's  rights  and  the  upholders  of  law— why 
was  the  facetiously  disposed  Boiifield  not  punished  for  breaking  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  land,  the  constitution  ? 


In  cases  of  conspiracy  one  would  naturally  expect  the  conspirators 
to  be  personally  acquainted,  or,  if  not  personally  acquainted,  to  have 
conferred  together  in  some  way.  This  certainly  would  be  the  ordinary 

way  of  looking  at  things But  our  case  was  an  extra-ordinary  one 

where  an  ordinary  conspiracy  wouldn't  do— ergo :  one  had  to  be  con- 
structed especially  for  the  occasion.  The  most  noteworthy  features 
of  this  really  novel  conspiracy  were  that  some  of  the  "conspirators" 
did  not  know  their  "accomplices,"  while  others  had  been  personal 
enemies  for  a  long  time.  The  advantage  and  beauty  of  such  a  hetero- 
geneously  constructed  conspiracy,  for  which  the  prosecution  was 
deservedly  applauded,  will  be  readily  observed. 

* 

*  * 

Said  one  of  Chicago's  prominent  lawyers,  in  an  interview,  to  a 
reporter :  "Why,  it  required  no  skill  to  obtain  a  conviction  in  the 
anarchist  case;  had  Grinnell  but  simply  said,  'these  are  the  men 
who  have  made  socialistic  speeches,'  that  jury  would  have  returned 
the  same  verdict." It  may  surprise  some  of  our  American  citi- 
zens to  learn  that  in  this  country  of  "free  speech"  there  is  no  easier 
thing  in  the  world  than  to  sentence  persons  to  death  for  expressing 

their  views  and  convictions. 

* 

*  * 

Some  of  the  "witnesses"  for  the  prosecution,  while  on  the  stand, 
admitted  having  received  various  sums  of  money  from  police  captain 
Schaack.  This  money  and  a  great  deal  more  (spent  in  similar  ways) 
came  from  the  "Citizens'  Association,"  a  society  composed  of  Board 
of  Trade  men,  prominent  business  men  and  bankers.  Does  not  that 
furnish  cause  for  reflection,  reader  ?  These  very  respectable  citizens 
were  also  the  men  who  received  the  verdict  with  so  much  enthusiasm 
and  applause.  Citizens,  is  there  nothing  suspicious  in  this — think ! 

* 

*  * 

Henry  George  writes  in  the  New  York  Standard: 

(LAW  AND  ORDER.) 

The  anarchist  cases  have  proved  that  while  organized  working- 
men  are  as  a  class  in  favor  of  due  administration  of  law,  the  society 
saving  class  is  at  heart  a  lawless  class.  Spies  and  his  associates  were 


72  NOTES  AND  LETTEKS. 

convicted  by  a  jury  chosen  in  a  manner  so  shamelessly  illegal  that  it 
would  be  charity  to  suspect  the  judge  of  incompetency. 

The  accusation  was  murder,  by  an  explosive  thrown  by  an  un- 
known person  between  whom  and  the  defendants  no  connection  was 
shown.  The  meeting  at  which  it  was  thrown  was  peaceable  and  lawful. 
The  mayor  so  declared  it ;  and  although  the  chief  of  police  agreed 
with  him,  hardly  was  the  mayor  out  of  sight  when  the  chief,  at  the 
head  of  a  squad  of  policemen,  ordered  it  to  disperse.  Then  the  ex- 
plosive was  thrown. 

The  only  evidence  against  the  defendants  in  connection  with  this 
meeting  was  that  they  were  present  and  that  some  of  them  spoke. 
Yet  this  jury,  many  of  whom  confessed  to  fixed  opinions  against  the 
accused,  found  a  verdict  of  murder. 

Upon  this  the  labor  organizations,  although  opposed  in  opinion 
to  the  defendants,  raised  a  fund  to  vindicate  the  law.  How  different 
the  position  of  the  "better  classes."  No  well  informed  lawyer  can  de- 
fend the  conviction  upon  legal  grounds.  Laymen  may  think  the  pro- 
ceeding lawful,  because  outward  forms  of  law  were  observed,  but  the 
lawyers  who  defend  it  do  so  solely  on  the  ground  that  "anarchy,"  and 
"communism,"  and  "socialism"  must  be  stamped  out.  They  concede 
that  it  was  a  mere  subterfuge  to  punish  men  for  opinion's  sake,  but 
urge  that  the  opinions  are  dangerous  to  society ;  and  when  a  layman 
is  confronted  with  the  truth  that  this  trial  was  a  legal  farce,  he  falls 
back  upon  the  same  plea.  An  opinion  more  dangerous  to  society  than 
that  men  who  teach  unpopular  doctrines  may  be  silenced  by  illegal 
convictions  of  infamous  crimes  could  hardly  be  conceived. 

Which  then  is  the  law  and  order  class  ? — the  class  that  demands  a 
lawful  trial  for  victims  of  popular  hate  and  fear,  and  out  of  its  slender 
means  contributes  to  that  end,  or  the  class  that  uses  the  machinery 
of  the  law  to  mangle  the  law  itself  in  an  endeavor  to  silence  doctrinal 
adversaries  ? 


"Die  Wenigen,  die  was  davon  erkannt, 
Die,  thoricht  genug,  ihr  voiles  Herz  nieht  wahrten — 
Dem  Pobel  ihr  Gefuhl  und  Schauen  offenbarten, 
Hat  man  von  je  gekreuzigt  und  verbrannt." 

— Goethe. 

Every  student  must  know  from  history  that  new  discoveries  are 
generally  made  at  the  discoverer's  own  risk ;  that  he  must  expect  to 
be  persecuted,  villified  and  punished.  This  is  sad,  but  it  is  true.  And 
knowing  it  to  be  true  the  discoverer  or  inventor  takes  the  inevitable 
good-naturedly  and  consoles  himself  with  the  honor  of  having  origin- 


NOTES  AND  LETTERS.  73 

ated  something.  But  to  be  punished  for  expressing  ideas  and  thoughts 
that  have  for  hundreds  of  years  been  known  to  the  scientist,  that  are 
contained  in  almost  every  scientific  work  and  brochure — to  be  punish- 
ed for  this  (as  a  low  criminal)  simply,  because  a  states-attorney,  judge 
and  juror  have  never  read  a  work  on  Political  Economy,  is  aggravat- 
ing and  bitter.  Think  of  it— you  are  a  "dangerous  criminal,"  because 
you  have  the  audacity  to  know  more  than  a  states-attorney,  judge  or 
juror ! 

* 
*          * 

"Property  rights  are  sacred,"  so  we  were  informed  by  the  court — 

"and  whoever  attacks  them,  is  a  criminal "  Now,  our  "attacks" 

upon  certain  property  rights  were  exclusively  theoretical But  can 

that  which  not  more  than  25  years  ago  was  considered  the  noble  aspi- 
ration of  this  great  nation ;  can  that  for  which  the  blood  of  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  Americans  was  shed  on  the  battlefield ;  can  that  for 
•which  the  nation  honors  a  Lincoln,  Sumner,  a  Grant  and  Logan  —  I 
ask,  can  that  have  become  a  felonious  crime  in  so  short  a  time  ?  Did 
the  nation  respect  the  "sacred  property  rights"  of  the  southern  slave- 
holders ?  No,  when  this  property  right  threatened  the  peace  and  well- 
fare  of  the  nation,  it  was  abolished !  Are  we  to  believe  from  the  state- 
ment of  the  court,  that  all  those  "who  taught  the  abolition  of  that 
"sacred  property  right,"  and  that  all  those  who  "assisted  and  abetted" 
in  that  abolition  were  criminals ! 

Eegarding  property  rights  Herbert  Spencer  writes : — * 

" While  centuries  ago  it  might  have  been  inferred  that  the 

ownership  of  man  by  man  was  an  ownership  in  course  of  being  perma- 
nently established ;  yet  we  see  that  a  later  stage  of  civilization,  re- 
versing this  process,  has  destroyed  ownership  of  man  by  man.  Simi- 
larly, at  a  stage  still  more  advanced  it  may  be  that  private  ownership  of 
land  will  disappear.  As  that  primitive  freedom  of  the  individual  which 
existed  before  war  established  coercive  institutions  and  personal  slav- 
ery, comes  to  be  re-established  as  militancy  declines ;  so  it  seems 
possible  that  the  primitive  ownership  of  land  by  the  community,  which, 
with  the  developement  of  coercive  institutions,  lapsed  in  large  measure 
or  wholly  into  private  ownership  will  be  revived  as  industrialism  furth- 
er developes " 

And  regarding  the  origin  of  the  sacred  property-rights  the  same 
thinker  has  the  following  to  say : — 


Synthetic  Philosophy,  553. 


74  NOTES  AND  LETTEKS. 

"  War,  both  by  producing  class-differentiations  within  each  society, 
and  by  effecting  the  subjugation  of  one  society  by  another,  undermines 
or  destroy's  communal  proprietorship  of  land  and  substitutes  for  it 
the  unqualified  ownership  of  the  conqueror. ..." 

It  takes  a  Chicago  Court  to  settle  scientific  questions !  Herbert 
Spencer  had  better  take  a  back  seat. 


"  Salus  reipublicce  supremo,  lex  esto"1  (let  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity be  the  highest  law)  is  an  alleged  principle  of  Eoman  law. 
When  the  nobles  and  princes  of  the  Middle  Ages  stole  common  property, 
their  right  was  founded  on  the  public  welfare.  When  the  French  Re- 
volution expropriated  the  aristocracy  and  clergy,  it  did  so  in  the  name 
of  public  welfare,  and  7  millions  of  peasant  proprietors,  the  support 
of  modern  bourgeois  France,  are  the  result.  In  the  name  of  public 
welfare  Spain  has  frequently  taken  possession  of  church  property ;  and 
Italy  has  confiscated  it  altogether,  amid  the  plaudits  of  the  warmest 
advocates  of  "inviolate  property".  The  English  nobility  has  been 
robbing  the  English  and  Irish  people  for  centuries  of  its  property,  and 
took  "legal"  possession  of  not  less  than  3,511,710  acres  of  public  land, 
between  1803  and  1831.  And  when  in  the  great  American  War  of 
Emancipation,  millions  of  slaves,  representing  property  that  had 
been  bought  and  paid  for,  were  declared  free  without  any  compensa- 
tion to  their  owners,  this  was  done  in  the  name  of  public  welfare  !  The 
whole  of  our  industrial  development  is  an  uninterrupted  process  of 
expropriation  and  confiscation,  in  which  the  manufacturer  ejects  the 
artisan,  the  large  landowner  the  peasant,  the  merchant  the  shop- 
keeper, _ and,  at  last,  one  capitalist  the  other,  in  short  in  which  the 

smaller  inevitably  falls  a  prey  to  the  larger Where,  pray,  are  the 

"sacred  rights  "  of  property? 


One  of  our  attorneys,  Mr.  Swett,  in  the  application  for  a  writ  of 
supersedeas,  addresses  himself  as  follows  to  Judge  Scott  of  the 
Supreme  Court : 

"The  writer  of  this  paragraph  remembers,  now  thirty  years  ago, 
of  belonging  to  a  political  party,  together  with  his  honor,  Judge 
Scott,  whose  presence  now  adorns  the  bench  of  our  Supreme  Court, 
the  battle  line  of  which  party  was  formed  along  Mason  and  Dixon's 
line.  We  made  speeches  for  this  party,  and  advocated  its  principles. 
The  most  radical  leaders  denounced  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States  as  a  "league  with  hell."  Underground  railroads  were  every- 


NOTES  AND  LETTERS.  75 

where  established  from  the  south  to  Canada,  and  the  unlawful  act  was 
frequently  committed  of  aiding  and  abetting  the  slave  in  his  escape. 
If  he  were  caught  by  the  officers  of  the  law,  he  was  unlawfully  rescued, 
often  through  riot,  and  his  rescuers  became  popular  favorites.  By 
and  by,  old  John  Brown,  caught  up  by  the  inspiration  of  the  occasion, 
with  a  few  fanatics,  committed  murder  at  Harper's  ferry.  There  is 
no  statute  of  limitations  to  the  prosecution  for  aiding  and  abetting 
murder.  Are  His  Honor,  Judge  Scott,  and  the  writer  of  this  para- 
graph, now  liable  to  arrest,  prosecution  and  conviction,  as  aiders  and 
abetters  of  John  Brown's  offense?  If  we  are  not,  the  law  laid  down 
in  this  case  is  wrong,  and  the  reason  we  are  not,  is  because  Judge 
Scott  and  the  writer  were  guilty  of  no  criminal  agency  in  connection 
with  him.  We  did  not  aid  or  abett  his  act.  Like  the  case  of  these 
defendants,  we  did  not  know  beforehand  that  he  was  to  commit  the 
murder.  Therefore,  although  John  Brown's  soul  may  still  go  march- 
ing on,  the  censure  or  glory  of  that  fact  does  not  belong  to  us." 


It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Municipal  Council  of  Paris, 
France,  and  also  the  Council  of  the  Departement  de  Seine,  requested 
the  American  minister,  McLane,  for  the  transmission  to  Governor 
Oglesby  of  their  petition  in  behalf  of  the  "condemned  anarchists." 
The  French  petitioners  took  the  position  that  the  execution  of  seven 
men  for  the  alleged  commission  of  a  "political  crime,"  in  our  age, 
would  brand  an  everlasting  mark  of  infamy  upon  republicanism, 
which,  itself,  was  the  offspring  of  "political  crimes"  and  revolution. 
"Ah!"  replied  the  Honorable  McLane,  "political  crimes! — we 
Americans  are  very  tolerant  regarding  political  crimes,  very  !  Your 
petition,  however,  gentlemen,  is  superfluous ;  only  low  criminals, 
such  of  the  deepest  dye,  are  sentenced  to  death  in  our  country.  You 
may  rest  assured,  therefore,  that  these  men,  in  whose  behalf  you 
would  have  me  petition  the  governor  of  Illinois,  are  low  criminals- 
otherwise  they  would  not  have  been  sentenced  to  death." 

Le  Cri  du  Peuple,  commenting  upon  this,  said  that  McLane  was 
a  contemptible  Jesuit.  L ' Intransigeant  said:  "The  republic  of  the 
republics  is  preparing  for  a  sinister  spectacle  which,  if  consummated, 
will  put  Eussia  to  shame.  Seven  men  are  to  die  on  the  scaffold 
because  some  of  them  were  present  at  a  public  meeting  which  was 
unlawfully  attacked  by  the  police,  and  because  an  unknown  party  re- 
sisted the  attack  by  throwing  a  bomb,  killing  some  of  the  assailants. 
The  American  minister  has  the  unenviable  courage  to  speak  of  the 
condemned  men,  who  have  shown  themselves  heroes  throughout  the 


76  NOTES  AND  LETTERS. 

trial,  as  common  criminals.  Is  the  American  bourgeoisie  bent  upon 
inaugurating  the  social  revolution?"  (LJ Intransigeant  is  not  a 
socialistic  paper.) 

Those  Paris  editors,  of  course,  don't  know  what  constitutes  a 
political  crime  in  America.  Here  the  utmost  tolerance  is  shown  the 
policeman  who  kills  one  or  more  citizens ;  he  is  never  punished,  and 
I  conclude  his  is  a  "political  crime."  Here  the  Pinkertons  can  kill 
workingmen  by  the  score  without  ever  receiving  punishment.  From 
the  tolerance  shown  in  such  cases  I  conclude  that  the  killing  of  work- 
ingmen comes  under  the  heading  of  "political  crime."  Here  a  legis- 
lator who  receives  bribes,  steals  the  people's  rights  and  sells  them  to 
corporations  and  monopolies  is  never  punished.  I  suppose  he  is  a 
political  criminal.  Those  who  sack  our  public  treasuries,  the  whisky 
thieves,  the  "star  routers,1'  and  "boodlers"  of  all  and  every  kind,  are 
never  punished.  The  great  tolerance  shown  them  leads  me  to  the 
conclusion  that  they  are  considered  political  criminals.  The  ballot- 
box  stuffers,  they,  too,  must  be  political  criminals.  I  find  that  out- 
rages committed  by  officials  upon  the  people  are  never  looked  upon  as 
common  crimes — all  these  must  be  political  crimes,  for  they  are  never 

punished Mr.  McLane  should  have  explained  the  nature  of  what 

is  looked  upon  as  belonging  to  the  category  of  political  crime  in 

America. 

* 
*         * 

The  greatest  crime  known  to  American  courts,  capitalists  and 
editors,is  that  of  being  a  revolutionist,  i.  e.  a  man  who  will  not  be  con- 
vinced that  the  world  has  come  to  a  standstill,  since  the  bourgeoisie 
have  arranged  everything  so  nicely.  These  Americans  who  deny  their 
parent,  (revolution)  who  deny  the  God  that  has  created  them,  are 
withal  a  ludicrous  set !  They  remind  me  of  the  reactionaries  of  Europe 
of  40  years  ago,  whom  Ludwig  Boerne  strikingly  characterizes  as 
follows : 

" They  not  only  want  to  destroy  the  fruits,  the  blossoms, 

the  leaves  and  the  branches  and  the  trunk  of  the  revolution — no,  they 
also  want  to  tear  out  its  roots,  its  deepest,  most  extended  and  strongest 
roots,  even  though  half  of  the  earth  would  be  torn  up  with  them.  They 
go  about  with  knife,  spade  and  ax  from  one  field  and  from  one  land  to 
the  other,  and  from  one  people  to  the  other.  And  after  they  have 
torn  out  and  burnt  all  the  roots  of  revolution,  after  they  have  anni- 
hilated the  present,  they  go  back  to  the  past.  After  they  have  chopped 
the  revolution's  head  off  and  the  unfortunate  delinquent  has  breathed 
her  last,  they  prohibit  her  grandmother,  who  has  been  dead  and  de- 
cayed for  many,  many  years,  to  marry ;  they  make  the  past  the 


NOTES  AND  LETTEKS.  77 

daughter  of  the  present.    Is  this  not  madness  ! After  they  have 

stamped  out  the  revolution  here,  they  stamp  out  the  American  and 
French  revolutions  ;  then  they  put  their  spade  to  the  English  revolution 
in  1688.  They'll  soon  reach  the  elder  Brutus,  who  put  the  Tarquiniens 
to  flight ;  thus  they  will  go  backward,  backward  until  they  finally  strike 
upon  God  himself,  who  committed  an  act  of  inexcusable  carelessness 
in  creating  Adam  and  Eve  before  he  had  yet  created  a  king,  which 
fact  caused  people  to  put  it  into  their  heads  that  they  could  get  along 
without  masters." 


(From  a  Letter.) 

" You  will  have  observed  that  the  demonstration  of  the 

Chicago  workingmen,  about  two  years  ago,  on  the  day  of  the  dedica- 
tion of  the  Board  of  Trade  building,  against  which  it  was  directed, 
was  made  the  basis  of  our  prosecution.  If  you  take  everything  per- 
taining to  this  demonstration  from  the  bulk  of  "testimony,"  there 
will  be  very  little  left.  And  when  I  consider  that  the  members  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  took  such  a  suspiciously  active  part  (furnishing  money 
and  jurors)  in  our  prosecution,  I  cannot  resist  the  conclusion  that 
forces  itself  upon  me — namely,  "that  they  wanted  to  get  even  with  the 
fellows  who  showed  up  their  business." 

You  find  an  analogeous  case,  my  dear,  in  Judaic  history.  You, 
who  are  well  versed  in  the  scripture,  as  I  believe,  will  probably  re- 
member the  crucifixion  of  a  young,  bright,  generous  and  noblehearted 
Jew,  by  the  name  of  Jesus.  And  in  connection  with  this  incident 
you  will  likewise  remember  that  a  few  days  prior  to  his  "legal"  murder, 
he  had  entered  the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  which  he  found  occupied 
by  the  Board  of  Trade  men  of  that  city.  Let  me  also  call  to  your 
memory  what  he  did  and  said  on  this  occasion.  I  quote  from 
Matthew:  "And  Jesus  went  into  the  temple  of  God,  and  cast  out  all 
them  that  sold  and  bought  in  the  temple,  and  overthrew  the  tables  of 

the  money  changers  (bankers) and  said  unto  them :  'My  house 

shall  be  called  the  house  of  prayer,  but  ye  have  made  it  a  den  of 
tHieves.' " 

And  when  the  Jerusalem  Board  of  Trade  men  saw  their  "respec- 
table business"  thus  exposed  by  this  "foreign,  half-distracted,  wild- 
eyed,  ranting  agitator,"  and  when  they  saw  that  his  words  were 
listened  to  eagerly  by  the  people,  they  summoned  their  hireling  phari- 
sees  and  scribes,  formed  a  conspiracy,  "drummed  up"  some  charges 
against  the  "lawless  fiend"  and — crucified  him  as  a  "convicted  felon." 

You  will  readily  see  the  analogy  of  this  and  our  own  case. 


78  NOTES  AND  LETTERS. 

You  are  likewise  aware  of  the  fact  that  our  persecutors  are  "good 

Christians,"  men  who  pretend  to  follow  the  teachings  of  Christ 

No  one  could  characterize  these  hypocrites  more  vividly  than  the 
founder  of  their  own  "religion."  Just  listen  (again  I  quote  from 

Matthew):  "The  scribes  and  the  pharisees  sit  in  Moses' seat 

Woe  unto  you  scribes,  pharisees  and  hypocrites  !  for  ye  are  like  unto 
whitened  sepulchres,  which  indeed  appear  beautiful  outward,  but  are 
within  full  of  dead  men's  bones,  and  of  all  uncleanness.  Even  so  ye 
also  outwardly  appear  righteous  unto  men,  but  within  you  are  full  of 
hypocrisy  and  iniquity. 

"Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  pharisees  and  hypocrites !  because 
ye  built  the  tombs  of  the  prophets,  and  garnish  the  sepulchres  of  the 
righteous. 

"And  say,  if  we  had  been  in  the  days  of  our  fathers,  we  would  not 

have  been  partakers  with  them  in  the  blood  of  the  prophets Ye 

serpents,  ye  generation  of  vipers,  how  can  ye  escape  the  damnation  of 
hell?" 

This  sounds  as  though  it  had  been  expressly  written  for  the  oc- 
casion, does  it  not  ?  Do  you  think  that  Judge  Gary,  Grirmell  and  the 
Board  of  Trade  men,  who  contribute  so  largely,  I  understand,  to 
Christian  missionary  work,  can  look  each  other  in  the  face  without 
laughing!  Having  touched  upon  this  subject  once,  let  me  translate 
for  you  a  short  extract  from  no  less  a  church  authority  than  Doctor 
Martinus  Luther.  He,  too,  has  something  to  say  on  Board  of  Trade 
men,  and  he  says  it  in  his  own  powerful,  though  not  very  "decent" 
and  polished  language : 

"The  heathens  could  reckon  from  their  reason  that  a  usurer  was 
a  quadruple  thief  and  murderer.  But  we  Christians  honor  them  so 

much  that  we  feign  would  worship  them  for  the  money  they  have 

He  who  sucks  from  another  his  subsistence,  or  robs  or  steals  it,  is  as 
much  a  murderer  (in  his  own  thoughts)  as  he  who  would  starve  an- 
other to  death  or  destroy  him.  But  this  is  exactly  what  the  usurer 
does,  and  meanwhile  he  sits  safely  upon  his  chair,  when  he  should 
justly  hang  on  the  gallows,  where  he  should  be  devoured  by  as  many 
ravens  as  the  number  of  gulden  that  he  has  stolen,  forsooth,  if  there 
be  enough  flesh  of  him  that  so  many  ravens  could  take  part  in  the 

feast  Meanwhile  little  thieves  are  hanged.  Small  thieves  lie 

stretched  upon  the  racks  in  prisons ;  big  thieves  go  about  in  gold  and 

silks  And  hence  there  is  not  a  greater  enemy  of  mankind  on 

earth  (after  the  devil)  than  a  usurer,  for  he  seeks  to  be  God  above  all 
men.  Turks,  warriors,  tyrants  are  wicked  men,  but  they  let  people 
live  at  least,  and  confess  that  they  are  wicked  and  our  enemies.  And 


NOTES  AND  LETTEKS.  79 

they  show,  or  have  to  show,  mercy  once  in  a  while.  But  a  potbelly  of 
a  usurer — he  would  have  all  the  world  perish  from  hunger  and  thirst, 
from  want  and  suffering,  only  that  he  might  have  everything  himself, 
and  have  everybody  his  dependent  serf,  who  should  look  up  to  him  as 
his  God;  wear  jewels,  gold  chains,  rings,  wipe  his  mouth  and  have 

people  laud  and  praise  him  as  a  most  dear  and  pious  man Usury 

is  a  stupendous  monstrosity,  like  a  werewolf  that  devastates  every- 
thing, more  than  Cacus,  Gerion  or  Antus ;  and  yet  adorns  himself 
and  wants  to  be  pious,  so  that  it  might  not  be  seen  where  the  oxen 
disappear,  whom  he  draws  clandestinely  into  his  abyss  !  But  Hercules 
shall  hear  the  cry  of  the  oxen  and  the  prisoners,  and  he  shall  look  for 
Cacum  in  cliffs  and  crags  and  rocks,  to  release  the  oxen  from  the  mis- 
creant. Cacus  is  a  miscreant  who  is  a  pious  usurer — steals,  robs  and 
devours  everything.  And  he  will  not  admit  it;  nobody  shall  find 
him  out,  because  the  oxen  have  been  drawn  into  the  hole  clandestinely, 
going  backward,  he  would  make  it  appear  from  their  tracks  that  they 
had  been  let  out.  In  the  same  way  tries  the  usurer  to  eat  up  the 
entire  world — making  it  appear  that  he  benefits  the  world  by  giving  it 
oxen,  while  he  draws  them  into  his  hole  and  devours  them  all  him- 
self  And  since  the  highwaymen,  murderers  and  robbers  are  put 

on  the  wheel  and  are  beheaded,  how  many  times  more  ought  the 
usurers  be  quartered  and  wheeled,  ought  they  be  persecuted,  cursed 
and  beheaded " 

Now,  my  friend,  no  socialist  ever  proposed  such  a  terrible  meas- 
ure as  "quartering,  wheeling  and  beheading"  our  Board  of  Trade  men 
(who  are  the  typical  usurers  of  our  time).  And  while  we  agree  with 
Luther's  general  characterization,  all  we  ever  proposed  was  to  simply 
put  a  stop  to  their  infernal  business. 

The  point  I  wish  to  make  in  this  connection  is,  that  we  are  con- 
demned by  alleged  Christians,  sentenced  to  death  as  common  felons, 
as  it  were,  for  having  said  similar  things  of  the  Board  of  Trade  men 
as  Christ  and  Luther  did — only  that  we  were  far  more  moderate  in 
our  expressions  and,  for  a  remedy,  did  not  advocate  the  brutal  killing 
of  anybody,  as  the  eminent  authority,  Luther,  did. 

The  respectable  Board  of  Trade  men  of  this  city,  or  at  least  some 
of  them,  only  the  other  day  passed  a  resolution  in  which  they  speak 
of  me  as  the  "convicted  felon."  The  Inter  Ocean  of  the  same  day 
says  that  my  comrades  and  I  were  convicted  because  of  the  "dangerous 
philosophy"  we  hold ;  all  the  other  papers  have  said  the  same  thing, 
and  "Judge"  Gary  said  so  in  passing  sentence.  Now,  if  because  of 
my  views  I  am  a  felon,  were  not  Christ  and  Luther,  whom  they  pre- 


80  NOTES  AND  LETTERS. 


tend  to  worship,  felons  fully  as  "deep  dyed,"  and  even  more  so,  than 
I  or  my  co-prisoners  ? 

The  "dreadful  book"  of  Most — what  is  it  when  compared  with  the 
"wild  rantings"  of  Luther?    Very  meek,  indeed. 


* 

*          * 


(From  a  Letter.) 

" You  ask  me,  can  not  this  question,*  which  concerns  every 

member  of  the  human  family,  be  solved  peaceably  ?  Is  brute  force  in 
our  "civilized  age"  still —what  it  was  informer  ages — the  ultima  ratio?" 

Let  me  relate  to  you  a  short  episode.  It  was  in  1832.  Paris  was 
mourning ;  a  cholera  epidemic  held  terrible  sway  in  the  gay  city  on 
the  Seine.  The  number  of  the  victims  of  this  dreadful  destroyer  in- 
creased from  hour  to  hour.  Something  had  to  be  done  to  check  the 
ravings  of  the  plague,  and  a  commission  sanitaire  was  organized. 
Scarcely  had  the  commission  been  organized  when  it  collided  with  the 
interests  of  several  thousand  citizens,  who  looked  upon  the  public  dirt 
as  their  private  domaine.  These  were  the  so-called  chiffonniers,  who 
made  a  living  from  the  rubbish  and  offal  that  accumulated  every  day 
in  front  of  the  houses.  They  sneaked  about  with  large  baskets  and 
long  sticks  (hook  on  one  end),  miserable,  dirty  looking  creatures,  and 
picked  up  a  good  many  things  out  of  the  sweepings  that  they  could 
sell.  As  soon  as  the  sanitary  commission  had  ordered  the  sweepings, 
etc.,  to  be  at  once  removed  by  carts  out  of  the  city  limits,  where,  if 
they  desired  to,  the  chiffonniers  might  sift  and  search  it  at  pleasure,  the 
latter  at  once  began  to  lament  that  this  measure  was  an  invasion  of 
their  inalienable  rights,  an  attempt  to  deprive  them  of  a  livelihood,  an 
unwarrantable  violation  of  what,  by  custom  and  usage,  had  become  a 

sacred  property-right But  the  welfare  of  the  community  required 

a  rigid  enforcement  of  sanitary  measures,  among  which  the  cleaning 
of  the  streets  was  the  most  important.  "No  !"  protested  the  Messieurs 
Chiffonniers ;  "we  will  not  hear  of  anything  of  the  kind  being  done ;  we 
claim  that  nobody  has  a  right  to  interfere  with  our  business ;  if  you 
don't  like  our  old  established  rights  and  regulations  in  Paris — why, 
nobody  keeps  you  here !  Everybody  is  at  liberty  to  leave  Paris. 
Who  ever  is  afraid  of  the  cholera  may  leave  the  city.  As  for  us,  we 
are  going  to  stay  and  carry  on  our  legitimate  business." 

And  when  the  commission  entered  upon  the  enterprise  to  remove 
the  dirt,  the  scavengers  were  set  upon  by  the  corps  de  chiffonniers,  who 
demolished  their  carts  and  threw  them  in  the  Seine.  The  defenders 


*  The  social  problem. 


NOTES  AND  LETTERS.  81 

of  their  "property  rights"  were  greatly  augmented  in  numbers  by 
those  who  were  dependent  upon  them,  the  junk  shop  dealers,  etc., 
and  were  thus  enabled  to  successfully  resist  for  some  time  the  com- 
bined efforts  of  the  police.  The  military  had  to  be  called  out,  the 

greatest  anxiety    prevailed,   a    revolution  threatened After    a 

desperate  struggle  with  the  conservative  ragpickers  and  sweepings- 
merchants  the  state  was  saved ;  the  chiffonniers  were  defeated. —  — 
You  will  readily  see  the  gist  of  this  narrative  and  its  application 
to  our  case,  i.  e.,  to  your  question.  You  attempt  to  abolish  a  privilege, 
no  matter  how  injurious  and  obnoxious  to  the  community,  the  class 
that  benefits  from  such  a  privilege  will  fight  for  its  perpetuation,  will 
howl  about  the  sacredness  of  the  same,  etc.,  etc.  It  is  not  for  me  to 
say  whether  the  social  changes  necessary  for  the  welfare  of  humanity 
shall  be  brought  about  in  this  or  that  way.  Those  who  hold  the  key 
to  the  situation,  the  privileged  class,  will  decide  that ;  if  they  resort 

to  force,  as  the  Paris    chiffonniers  did — well ! And  they  have 

resorted  to  force  already 


" Your  position  is  in  the  main  correct.  If  the  law  laid  down 

by  Judge  Gary  in  our  case  is  "good  law,"  then  Phil.  Armour,  the 
other  packers  and  Pinkerton  have  "assisted,  aided  and  abetted"  in 
the  killing  of  Begely,  which  means  that  they  are  guilty  of  murder  in 
the  first  degree.  They  formed  a  conspiracy  for  the  purpose  of  break- 
ing the  eight-hour  law  of  this  state ;  they  engaged  men  to  help  them 
in  this  lawless  proceeding,  and  armed  them  with  deadly  weapons. 
"It  was  left  to  the  judgment  of  the  individual  members  of  the  con- 
spiracy to  make  use  of  these  weapons  whenever  an  opportunity  should 
be  offered."  I  am  quoting  Judge  Gary  (in  our  trial).  "Now"  (I  quote 
him  again),  "if  in  pursuance  of  the  general  object  and  design  of  said 
conspiracy  murder  was  committed  each  individual  member  of  the 

conspiracy  is  to  be  held  as  an  accessory "  There  can  be  no 

question  about  it — if  the  precedent  established  in  our  case  is  "good 
law,"  Armour,  Pinkerton  &  Co.  are  accessories  to  the  murder  of  poor 
Begely,*  and  are  as  such  punishable  the  same  as  the  principal. 

But  it  is  ridiculous  to  suppose  that  the  law  would  be  applied 
alike  to  a  millionaire  and  an  ordinary  citizen  !  Armour  might  com- 
mit as  many  murders  as  he  chose,  and  nothing  would  be  done  to 
him!  I  suppose  he  comes  under  the  heading,  "political  criminals," 


*  Begely,  a  poor  teamster,  was  wantonly  shot  and  killed  by  the  Pinkertons 
during  tne  recent  Stockyards  strike. 


82  NOTES  AND  LETTEKS. 

toward  whom  there  is  so  much  toleration  shown — as  Mr.  McLane  puts 
it — in  our  country,  "where  aU  citizens  are  equal  before  the  law !" 

Gary's  law  fits  the  Begely  murder  excellently.  In  our  case  nobody 
knew  or  could  tell  whether  the  bomb-thrower  was  a  socialist  or  not. 
In  Begely's  case  it  is  positively  known  that  one  of  the  hired  assassins 
committed  the  murder  You  wonder  where  the  Citizens'  Associa- 
tion is,  and  Grinnell !  Armour  and  Pinkerton,  my  friend,  enjoy  the 
privileges  of  absolute  monarchs :  they  are  above  the  law ! 


"I  maintain,  that  within  a  given  time  all  the  evils  described  will 
have  reached  a  point  at  which  their  existence  will  not  only  be  clearly 
recognized  by  the  vast  majority  of  the  population,  but  will  also  have 
become  unbearable ;  that  a  universal  irresistible  longing  for  radical 
reformation  will  then  take  possession  of  almost  the  whole  community 
and  make  the  quickest  remedy  appear  the  most  opportune." — A.  Bebel. 


"Written  laws  are  like  cobwebs :  the  weak  and  poor  are  caught  in 
them ;  the  rich  break  through  them." — Anacharsis. 


The  "throttlers"  of  the  republic  are  continually  crying  out  for 
more  military,  and  they  are  candid  enough  to  admit  that  they  want  a 

strong  army  against — the  people Plato,  in  his  "Republic,"  says  : 

"A  state  in  which  classes  exist  is  not  one  but  two ;  one  consists  of  the 
poor,  the  other  of  the  rich,  who,  living  in  close  proximity,  are  con- 
stantly on  the  watch  against  each  other " 


Shortly  after  the  close  of  the  sinister  comedy  in  Gary's  court, 
Mayor  Harrison  was  interviewed  by  a  reporter.  Said  he  boastingly : 
"We  had  to  stretch  the  laws  a  little  (?)  in  the  prosecution  of  this 
case ; — why,  we  did  things,  which,  if  done  in  England,  would  have 
upset  the  throne  of  Victoria " 

And  even  Harrison  did  not  nkow  one-half  of  what  was  done ! 
Bonfield  and  Grinnell  didn't  consult  Harrison ;  they  obeyed  higher 
orders.  But  be  that  as  it  may — we  have  it  from  his  own  lips  that  the 
"constituted  anthorities"  "throttled"  constitution  and  laws  in  their 
attempt  to  murder  us. 

The  Frankfurter  Zeitung  (9th  December,  '86)  advises  the  European 
governments  ironically  to  take  lessons  from  the  American  republics. 


NOTES  AND  LETTERS.  83 

It  says :  "European  potentates  could  learn  a  great  deal  from  the 
authorities  in  the  American  republics,  who  understand  it  masterly  to 
govern  with  sword  and  powder  states  that  have  surprisingly  free  con- 
stitutions. Instead  of  a  daring  coup  de  force,  by  which  they  might 
openly  establish  the  reign  of  their  arbitrary  will,  they  content  them- 
selves with  leaving  the  constitutional  rights  and  the  sovereignty  of 
the  people  unchanged  on  the  paper,  while  they  exercise  an  unlimited 

authority  and  do  just  what  they  please they  leave  freedom  of 

speech  and  press  unmolested,*  but  ihey  take  good  care  that  the  oppo- 
sition goes  no  further  than  making  words Newspaper  articles 

and  speeches  they  don't  mind  as  long  as  they  have  thousands  of  well- 
disciplined  armed  hirelings  and  an  army  of  paid  spittlelickers  around 
their  "thrones."  They  have  a  large  and  wide  conscience,  these  Hon- 

orables,  and  very  elastic  ideas  of  honor The  very  worst  thing  is 

that  for  everything  they  do,  they  have  the  excuse  that  they  are  only 

the  executor  s  of  the  people's  will " 

The  Frankfurter  Zeitung  is  one  of  the  very  first  capitalistic   (but 

democratic)  papers  in  Europe. 

* 
*          * 

The  "evidence"  against  one  of  my  co-prisoners,  Oscar  Neebe,  was 
that  on  the  evening  of  May  3  he  picked  up  a  copy  of  the  "Revenge- 
Circular"  in  a  saloon,  and  remarked :  "Some  day  it  may  come  the 
other  way  !"  (referring  to  the  killing  of  strikers  at  McCormick's) ;  that 
he  then  drank  a  glas  s  of  beer  and  went  home.  For  this  remark  the 
"gentlemen's  jury"  kindly  accorded  him  fifteen  years  in  the  peniten- 
tiary. "We  would  have  hanged  him,  too,"  said  one  of  the  "jurors," 
"if  Grinnell  hadn't  said  that  he  did  not  ask  for  Neebe 's  life  !M 

Very  pretty — very  characteristic  !  is  it  not  ? 

It  was  in  evidence  that  Neebe  was  not  present  at  the  Haymarket 
meeting,  and  that  he  had  no  knowledge  of  a  meeting  being  held 
there.  Still,  they  would  have  hanged  him,  too  !  Of  course  !  Why 
shouldn't  they,  the  "gentlemen's  jury?" 


A.  E.  Parsons  could  not  be  found  by  the  detectives ;  he  was  in 
perfect  safety.  When  the  trial'began  he  walked  into  the  court-room 
and  said,  "  here  I  am  ;  you  may  try  me,  if  I  have  broken  any  laws  !" 
What  man  with  a  consciousness  of  guilt  would  do  that  ?  The  first  thing 
Grinn  ell  did  was  that  he  called  Parsons  a  coward.  And  the  "gentle- 
men's jury"  "hanged  him."  A  chivalrous  crowd,  wasn't  it? 


*Not  in  Chicago. 


84  NOTES  AND  LETTERS. 

Sam  Fielden  was  shot  through  the  knee  by  a  policeman  at  the 
Haymarket  meeting.  While  under  arrest  in  the  Central  station,  he 
asked  for  a  physician  to  dress  his  wound.  "Yes,  we'll  put  strychnine 

in  it,  you !"  was  the  courteous  reply  of  one  of  the  guardians  of 

peace  and  public  morality. 


Schwab,  Neebe,  Engel  and  Lingg  were  not  present  at  the  Hay- 
market  meeting  at  all ;  and  Parsons  and  Fischer  had  left  it  before  the 
police  riot  and  the  subsequent  bomb-explosion  occurred. 


Had  Schnaubelt,  the  alleged  bomb-thrower,  not  seen  fit  to  shake 
the  dust  of  Chicago  from  his  feet — had  he  been  present  at  the  trial,  it 
is  safe  to  say  that  Grinnell  would  never  have  awarded  him  the  role  of 
the  bomb-thrower,  there  being  no  evidence  against  him  at  all  (except 

Gilmer's). 

* 
*          * 

The  direct  result  of  our  persecution  has  been — general  activity  in 
labor  circles ;  great  progress  in  organization  and,  particularly,  in  ideas. 
The  radical  elements  have  come  to  the  front  everywhere,  while  the 
conservatives  were  pushed  to  the  wall.  The  Arbeiter-Zeitung  has 
tripled  its  subscription  list  since  Grinnell's  agitation  began.  At  that 
time  it  had  4,000  subscribers ;  it  has  now  over  10,000.  The~political 
party  which  cast  over  25,000  votes  last  fall  is  also  one  of  the  many 
good  results  of  Grinnell's  revolutionary  propaganda. 


A.PPB.NDIX. 

(By  THE  PUBLISHES.) 


A  LADY'S   VIEW  OF   THE   TRIAL. 

(BY   NINA   VAN  "ZANDT.) 

As  published  in  November  6th  Knights  of  Labor,  and  republished  by  special 
request  in  the  January  22,  number  of  the  same.  The  letter  was  originally  written 
to  a  Philadelphia  paper,  but  its  publicaiion  was  refused. 

CHICAGO,  Oct.  9,  1886. 

EDITOR  :  I  am  an  Eastern  woman  sojourning  for  a  time  in  this 
city,  and  to  the  papers  of  the  east,  which  I  hold  in  much  greater 
respect  than  those  of  this  city,  I  look  for  a  fair  hearing  in  a  matte 
which  has  not  had  one  in  the  columns  of  the  press.  I  refer  to  the 
case  of  the  so-called  anarchists.  I  attended  their  trial  and  was  also 
in  court  during  the  recent  motion  f  or  a  new  one.  I  have  no  sympathy 
with  their  doctrines,*  but  that  fact  shall  not  keep  me  silent  when  I  see 
those  persecuted  who  do  advocate  those  doctrines.  Now  that  thous- 
ands all  over  the  world,  who  know  nothing  of  the  trial,  the  defendants, 
nor  their  characters,  except  what  they  have  gathered  from  a  prejudiced 
press,  are  ventilating  their  views  freely,  I  feel  it  not  only  my  right  but 
my  duty  to  tell  what  I  have  found  to  be  the  truth  in  the  matter. 

I  entered  the  court,  for  the  first  time,  expecting  to  see  a  fiendish- 
looking  wretch  in  each  one  of  the  chairs  set  for  the  prisoners,  but  pre- 
judiced as  I  was,  I  could  not  detect  an  ill-looking  man  amongst  them ; 
several  had  noble  faces.  However,  I  felt  no  sympathy  for  them  until 
I  found  that  every  possible  means  was  being  employed  to  convict 
them,  "on  principle,"  whether  they  were  guilty  under  the  indictment 
or  not.  Then,  in  spite  of  constant  warnings  to  the  effect  that  the 
public  would  not  brook  any  inquiry  into  either  the  true  facts  in  the 
case  or  the  methods  adopted  in  its  prosecution,  I  set  myself  to  learn 
the  truth,  an  undertaking  which  has  cost  me  many  weeks  of  labor. 
The  general  public  has  not  had  an  opportunity  to  make  such  inquiry, 
but  has  had  to  accept  the  statements  of  the  capitalistic  press,  which 
has  exhausted  itself  in  abuse  and  misiepresentation  of  these  eight 


*  I  did  not  know  what  they  were  at  that  time. 


86  APPENDIX. 

men — hence  the  extreme  bitterness  of  the  prevailing  prejudice  against 
them.  It  is  plain  why  the  capitalists,  or,  more  particularly,  the 
monopolists,  should  cry  for  the  blood  of  these  labor-agitators,  when 
it  is  taken  into  consideration  that  they  are  the  leaders  of  the  hated 
eight-hour  movement.  Their  enemies,  however,  could  prove  nothing 
against  their  previous  characters ;  they  had  been  unusually  good  citi- 
zens, good  fathers  and  sons,  good  neighbors.  They  had  committed 
no  crime  except  that  of  agitating  the  labor  question,  but  that  was  a 
"crime  of  the  deepest  dye  !"  They  had  dared  to  tell  the  wage- worker, 
who  ought  to  be  kept  in  servility !  that  he  had  a  right  to  the  common 
decencies  of  life ;  and  such  teachings  as  that  could  not  be  counten- 
anced for  a  moment,  as  they  were  calculated  to  make  the  workingmen 
restive  under  the  yoke !  If  one  of  these  so-called  anarchists  had  not  been 
actuated  by  the  most  disinterested  motives,  would  he  have  refused 
fine  positions  to  abandon  it  ?  Is  it  not  a  self  denying  love  of  humanity 
that  has  induced  him  to  devote  ten  years  of  his  youth  to  this  work,  to 
the  exclusion  of  all  care  for  self  or  for  those  enjoyments  in  the 
striving  after  which  other  men  spend  their  lives  ?  He  has  been  per- 
secuted in  return.  He  has  patiently  labored,  not  only  to  elevate 
the  wage-workers,  but  to  reclaim  the  degraded  and  to  do  for  the 
destitute.  That  he  ever  desired  such  a  catastrophy  as  the  "Hay- 
market"  is  an  absurd  charge — absurd,  to  those  who  know  his  almost 
womanish  tender-heartedness.  It -was  by  the  showing  up  of  a 
fearful  outrage  perpetrated  upon  the  person  of  a  friendless  sixteen 
year-old  servant  girl,  by  a  policeman  of  this  city,  that  Mr.  Spies  first 
brought  down  upon  himself  the  wrath  of  the  united  police  force.  As 
a  punishment  for  this  and  many  other  "black  deeds"  committed  by 
him,  the  police  have  taxed  to  the  utmost  their  inventive  powers  in  un- 
eartnghi  evidence  of  a  conspiracy  which  never  existed.  These  honest 
upholders  of  justice  did  not  succeed  in  proving  a  conspiracy — owing 
not  at  all  to  the  want  of  effort  on  their  part,  but  to  ignorance — but 
that,  of  course,  made  no  difference  in  the  verdict !  The  terrified 
public,  into  whose  ears  the  press  shrieked  that  the  mere  existence  of 
socialism  meant  destruction  to  property  and  annihilation  to  human 
life  and  to  government,  clamored  that  a  speedy  example  should  be 
made  from  the  socialistic  ranks.  An  example  is  about  to  be  made, 
and  the  victims  have  been  selected  with  discrimination. 

It  is  certain  that  the  good  judgment  of  these  social  reform- 
ers was  led  astray  by  zeal  for  their  cause;  if  they  had  been  cun- 
ning, or  even  prudent  men,  they  would  not  now  be  situated  as  they 
are.  While  they  did  not  utter  much  of  the  inflammatory  language 
now  put  into  their  mouths  by  the  press  (and  the  detectives),  still  they 


APPENDIX.  87 

did  make  intemperate  speeches.  If  the  words  of  many  of  our  politi- 
cians, spoken  in  the  burning  heat  of  election  time,  were  calmly  sat 
upon  in  judgment,  months  after,  they  would  strike  everyone  as  start- 
lingly  cold-blooded.  Samuel  Fielden,  once  a  Methodist  minister, 
so  far  from  being  a  cruel  man  is  almost  worshipped  by  his 
neighbors  and  associates  -for  his  universal  kindliness  of  heart  and 
generosity.  An  honest  looking  laborer  who  sat  beside  me  while  Fiel- 
den was  making  his  plea  for  his  life,  I  observed  to  be  convulsed  with 
grief  every  few  minutes.  In  answer  to  my  query  as  to  whether  he 
knew  the  speaker,  he  replied,  "yes'm,  I've  lived  nigh  'im  fur  years  ; 
an'  a  better  neighbor  nor  a  honester  man  never  lived.  Everybody 
who  knows  'im  knows  sumthin'  good  of  'im."  Fielden  has  made  no 
effort  to  excite  public  sympathy  by  causing  it  to  be  known  that  his 
aged  father  died  of  a  broken  heart  after  the  verdict,  and  that  his  wife 
and  little  ones  are  now  dependent  upon  charity. 

If,  in  the  mind  of  a  common  sense  person,  there  is  no  indictment 
against  the  othsr  of  these  men,  then,  indeed,  is  Oscar  Neebe's  con- 
nection with  the  case  incomprehensible  to  such.  He  hadn't  been 
proved  to  have  belonged  to  any  socialistic  society,  to  have  ever  advo- 
cated measures  of  defense  for  workingmen,  or,  in  fact,  to  have  com- 
mitted any.  "crime,"  unless  (mark  the  unless  !)  it  was  "criminal"  to 
fulfill  the  obligation  of  a  friend  by  saving  the  Arbeiter-Zeitung  after  its 
"chief"  was  imprisoned — imprisoned  by  strategy  and  without  a  war- 
rant of  arrest Ah!  I  am  forgetting:  Neebe  is  somewhat  of  a 

"criminal"  after  all !  He  had  the  human  feeling  to  be  touched  by  the 
want  and  suffering  that  he  saw  among  the  wage- workers,  and  to  try  to 
better  their  condition,  to  which  end  he  organized  them,  so  that  they 
could  decide  upon  a  scale  of  prices  for  work.  When  it  is  taken  into 
consideration  that  Neebe  was  in  business  for  himself  and  couldn't  be 
benefited  by  any  reform,  his  "mercenary"  motives  are  but  too  appar- 
ent !  To  look  at  him,  though,  one  would  never  suspect  him  of  it ;  he 
looks  as  though  he  enjoyed  life  and  would  like  every  one  else  to  do  the 
same. 

Whenever  the  American  public,  which,  when  it  has  a  chance  to 
judge  both  sides  of  a  question  is  both  just  and  generous,  has  been 
presented  with  any  arguments  or  testimony  in  behalf  of  those  con- 
demned men,  a  systematic  effort  has  instantly  been  made  to  refute 
such  arguments.  This  effort  would  be  invariably  successful,  were  it 
not  that  it  is  made  so  speedily  and  violently  that  it  overreaches  its 
end  and  proves  itself  to  have  been  made  in  the  interest  of  some  par- 
ticular class.  All  that  I  ask  for  my  letter,  which  states  but  a  little  of 
what  I  have  found  out,  is  that  it  may  be  published,  in  order  that  the 


88  APPENDIX- 


public  may  have  at  least  this  small  chance  of  judging  for  itself  in  a 
question  involving  the  lives  of  seven  human  beings,  and  the  happiness 
and  support  of  as  many  families. 


A  LETTER  FROM  BENET. 

The  following  article,  which  appeared  in  the  Knights  of  Labor,  December  4. 
and  again,  by  special  request,  December  23,  is  flora  a  private  letter  written  by 
Colonel  Benet,  an  eminent  lawyer,  and  president  of  the  South  Carolina  Club.  He 
was  one  of  the  two  (2)  lay  delegates  from  his  state  to  the  recent  Episcopal  Con- 
vention held  in  Chicago. 

I  thank  you  for  sending  me  the  various  papers  concerning  the 
eight  condemned  socialists.  All  were  read  with  avidity,  but  especially 
the  autobiography  of  Mr.  Spies.  The  wood-cut  likeness  of  him  was 
wonderfully  good.  It  carried  me  back  to  the  court  room  in  Chicago, 
where  I  used  to  look  at  and  admire  his  noble  face  and  head.  The 
picture,  of  course,  could  not  give  the  kindly  look  of  his  eyes.  I  now 
take  a  deeper  interest  in  him  than  ever.  I  am  sure  he  is  a  good  man, 
with  a  pure  and  child-like  heart.  When  I  think  of  him  I  find  myself 
unwittingly  humming  the  words  of  Coleridge : 

"He  prayeth  best  who  loveth  best 

All  things  both  great  and  small  ; 
For  the  dear  God  who  loveth  us 
He  made  and  loveth  all." 

You  will  readily  see  the  appropriateness  of  the  lines. 

If  I  lived  in  your  city  it  would  certainly  be  impossible  for  me  to- 
prevent  my  appearing  in  court  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Spies  and  his  fellow- 
prisoners.  I  am  sorry  Carolina  is  so  far  from  Chicago.  I  know  in 
my  heart  these  men  are  entitled  to  a  new  trial.  It  will  be  a  scandal 
to  civilization  and  to  Christianity  if  they  are  refused  one ;  and  I  should 
like  to  show  a  supreme  court  the  reasons  for  the  faith  that  is  in  me. 
This  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  the  prisoners — 
although  I  really  consider  that  Spies  and  his  co-prisoners  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  Haymarket  riot.  But  apart  from  their 
guilt  or  innocence,  I  still  assert  that  Judge  Gary's  charge  to  the 
jury  is  enough  in  itself  to  justify  the  supreme  court,  nay,  to 
compel  it  to  grant  a  new  trial.  I  sincerely  trust  that  Captain  Black 
and  his  associate  counsel  will  quit  them  like  men  and  be  strong. 
Lawyers,  if  they  but  knew  it  and  remembered  it,  are  the  champions 
of  liberty.  The  bar  has  for  centuries  been  the  bulwark  of  our  rights. 


APPENDIX.  89 

The  prisoners'  counsel  should  rise  to  the  great  occasion  in  defiance  of 
public  opinion— man's  greatest  tyrant — happily,  like  most  tyrants,  a 
great  coward,  and  easily  routed. 

I  authorize  you  to  subscribe  my  name  to  the  protest  and  the  peti- 
tion. But  I  am  lawyer  enough  to  put  small  hope  in  petitions  and 
protests.  My  confidence  is  in  the  justice  of  the  case,  in  their  right  to 
a  new  trial,  which  should  be  a  fair  trial.  Will  you  kindly  send  me  a 
complete  copy  of  the  speeches,  and  any  newspapers  that  detail  the 
various  steps  in  the  progress  of  the  case  ? 

Let  me  say  to  you  as  you  persevere  in  your  good  work  of  demand- 
ing justice  for  these  men,  God  speed  you !  In  the  words  of  Goethe : 

"  The  future  hides  in  it 

Darkness  and  sorrow ; 
We  press  still  through, 

Naught  that  abides  in  it 
Daunting  us.     Onward  !  " 

WILLIAM  CHRISTIE  BENET. 
ABBEVILLE,  Nov.  20,  1886. 


Mr.  A.  Spies  is  a  member  of  the  "Amerikanische  Turner-Bund." 
Three  years  ago  he  attended  the  national  convention  of  this  great 
organization  in  Davenport,  Iowa,  as  a  delegate,  from  the  Chicago 
Turnbezirk. 

Mr.  John  Gloy,  the  first  speaker  of  the  Chicago  district,  recently 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  public,  from  which  I  quote  the  following : 

"I  have  been  charged  with  personal  friendship  for  August  Spies. 
Of  this  crime  I  plead  guilty — guilty  to  the  fullest  extent.  But  not 
alone  that — I  am  even  proud  of  that  friendship.  I  say  it  with  pride, 
and  say  it  to  everyone  who  wants  to  hear  it,  that  among  the  large 
number  of  my  fellow-turners  and  other  personal  friends  I  have  to 
look  long  before  I  find  one  worthy  to  be  compared  to  August  Spies, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  in  political  matters  I  do  not  agree  with 

my  friend  Spies  on  many  important  points I  ask  you,  can  you 

name  me  a  man  (I  allow  you  to  search  ancient  and  modern  history) 
who,  in  the  face  of  an  infamous  death,  showed  more  courage,  more 
character,  and  more  fidelity  to  his  convictions,  than  Spies  and  his 
associates  have  shown? 

"Those  men  have  compelled  the  admiration  of  the  whole  world, 
and  even  forced  their  bitterest  enemies  to  give  them  the  respect  they 

deserve Indeed,  a  community  which  knows  no  better  how  to 

treat  those  men  than  to  hang  them — well,  but  may  everyone  finish  the 
thought  himself 


90  APPENDIX. 

"On  the  4th  of  May  there  was  a  public  open-air  meeting  held  in 
Chicago.  While  the  police  are  making  the  unlawful  attempt  to  dis- 
perse this  meeting  an  unknown  person  throws  a  bomb,  which  kills  and 
wounds  several  men.  In  the  trial  following  this  event  seven  men  are 
sentenced  to  death  and  one  to  fifteen  years  imprisonment  in  the  peni- 
tentiary, notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  thrower  of  the  bomb  has 
not  been  discovered  to  this  day. 

"Several  months  afterward,  after  the  ending  of  a  strike  in  the  stock 
yards,  shots  were  fired  from  a  railroad  train  into  a  crowd  of  people. 
One  man  is  killed ;  several  others  are  wounded.  It  was  known  who 
hired  those  men,  who  paid  them,  who  armed  them — yes,  even  the 
very  men  who  did  the  shooting  were  known — and  yet  there  was  not 
even  an  indictment  found. 

"Now,  turners,  whoever  can  call  this  justice  without  blushing  and 
without  sinking  into  the  earth  for  very  shame,  let  him  come  forward. " 


EALPH  WALDO  EMEKSON:  "The  history  of  persecution  is  a  history 
of  endeavors  to  cheat  nature,  to  make  water  run  up  hill,  to  twist  a 
rope  of  sand.  It  makes  no  difference  whether  the  actors  be  many  or 
one,  a  tyrant  or  a  mob.  A  mob  is  a  society  of  bodies  voluntarily 
bereaving  themselves  of  reason  and  traversing  its  work.  The  mob  is 
man  voluntarily  descending  to  the  nature  of  the  beast.  Its  fit  hour 
of  activity  is  night.  Its  actions  are  insane,  like  its  whole  constitu- 
tion. It  persecutes  a  principle ;  it  would  whip  a  right ;  it  would  tar 
and  feather  justice  by  inflicting  fire  and  outrage  upon  the  houses 
and  persons  of  those  who  have  these.  It  resembles  the  pranks  of 
boys,  who  run  with  fire  engines  to  put  out  the  ruddy  aurora  streaming 
to  the  stars.  The  inviolate  spirit  turns  their  spite  against  the  wrong- 
doers. The  martyr  cannot  be  dishonored.  Every  lash  inflicted  is  a 
tongue  of  fame ;  every  prison  a  more  illustrious  abode ;  every  burned 
book  or  house  enlightens  the  world ;  every  suppressed  or  expunged 
word  reverberates  through  the  earth  from  side  to  side.  The  minds  of 
men  are  at  last  aroused ;  reason  looks  out  and  justifies  her  own  and 
malice  finds  all  her  worth  in  rain.  It  is  the  whipper  who  is  whipped 
and  the  tyrant  who  is  undone." 


JOHN  KUSKIN  :  "Christian  Justice  has  been  strangely  mute  and 

seemingly  blind The  only  reply  we  receive  from  our  Christian 

brethren  is,  'everybody  ought  to  remain  content  in  the  position  in 
which  God  has  placed  them.'    Ah,  my  friend,  that's  the  gist  of  the 


APPENDIX.  '   91 

whole  question.  Did  God  put  them  in  that  position  or  did  you  ?  You 
knock  a  man  into  a  ditch,  and  then  tell  him  to  remain  content  in  the 
'position  in  which  God  has  placed  him.'  That's  a  modern  Christianity. 
"There  will  be  always  a  number  of  men  who  would  fain  set  them- 
selves to  the  accumulation  of  wealth  as  the  sole  object  of  their  lives. 
Necessarily,  that  class  of  men  is  an  uneducated  class,  inferior  in 
intell  ct,  and  more  or  less  cowardly.*  It  is  physically  impossible  for 
a  well  educated,  intellectual  or  brave  man  to  make  money  the  chief 
object  of  his  thoughts ;  as  physically  impossible  as  it  is  for  him  to 
make  his  dinner  the  principal  object  of  them.  All  healthy  people  like 
their  dinners,  but  their  dinner  is  not  the  main  object  of  their  lives." 


"  There  is  the  moral  of  all  human  tales  ; 

Tis  but  the  same  rehearsal  of  the  past, 
First  freedom,  and  then  glory — when  that  fails, 
Wealth,  vice,  corruption, — barbarism  at  last." 

— BYKON. 


*  And  that  is  our  governing  class  ! 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


AUGUST  SPIES' AUTO-BIOGRAPHY  CHGO